Last week’s responses from Daniel Farke to questions about the ongoing winter transfer window were an exercise in avoiding the cardinal sin of over-promising.
January was nearing its halfway stage, Leeds United had seen more outs than ins at that stage in the window and manager Farke tried to strike the balance between saying what should be said and not saying too much.
Signings at specific positions would be helpful, clearly. But in predicting how the window might play out from there, he was reluctant to nail his colours to the mast. He was “carefully optimistic” that the time remaining to the February 1 deadline would yield something, “but I know the January market is difficult”.
Being in the Championship is financially restrictive too and having done a large amount of recruitment for this season in July and August — the “key decisions”, as Farke put it a couple of months back — the club’s investment during this mid-season window was never likely to be vast.
But Leeds have two more weeks to either top up their squad or push on with a group who, in fairness to them, have taken the club beyond 50 points with 19 of the 46 regular-season games still to play.
That the Farke project is in good shape is not in dispute.
This window presented an opportunity to minimise the risk of Leeds, or him, being caught short. And despite the lack of tangible movement, the machinations in the background at Elland Road indicate a desire to recruit.
Their priorities have changed slightly in the past fortnight as a result of two departures which were not wholly anticipated, alongside uncertainty over what comes next with centre-back Charlie Cresswell, but the broader wish list is largely the same: extra resources for the edges of Farke’s back four and, if an appropriate target is available, the addition of an attacking midfielder.
There are vacant loan slots in the squad, and that market was where Leeds expected to get the most joy this month.
The attention they have paid to right-backs is indicative of the way scouting departments have to be on their toes.
Until very recently, Farke did not envisage making signings at that position because, before Christmas, it was never the intention to lose Djed Spence or Luke Ayling, let alone both.
The severance of Spence’s season-long loan from top-flight Tottenham Hotspur was the culmination of performance and discipline issues, marking the card of a defender who was supposed to be here until May. Farke had hoped that despite playing an increasingly bit-part role, Ayling would agree to see out the rest of the season, and with it his contract, but not being in the starting XI in the FA Cup third round against third-tier Peterborough United prompted the 32-year-old to ask to leave on loan for fellow Championship side Middlesbrough.
Archie Gray played at right-back in Saturday’s 3-0 away battering of Cardiff City and, more often than not, the teenager has coped well when used out of position in that role. Jamie Shackleton is Farke’s other option there. But Leeds have been active in exploring deals for external alternatives, without getting a signing over the line.
They are long-term admirers of Nottingham Forest’s Neco Williams, who they looked at in the summer, but his new head coach Nuno Espirito Santo has been explicit that the 22-year-old is not available. Leeds have also been tracking another Welsh full-back playing in the Premier League, Burnley’s Connor Roberts, who hasn’t started a top-flight game since October, spending the time since as a (sometimes unused) substitute or out of the matchday squad.
Neco Williams is a target for Leeds, but Forest are reluctant to lose him (Marc Atkins/Getty Images)
West Ham United’s Ben Johnson is also on the list. The 23-year-old has seen relatively few minutes this season, is on course to be out of contract in the summer and has rejected offers of an extension to his current deal, but Leeds would favour a loan agreement in this window. West Ham, for their part, would expect a loan fee if they agreed to send Johnson out.
At left-back, Farke has long been at the mercy of injuries. Were Sam Byram and Junior Firpo consistently fit, the manager would settle for his resources there, but injuries have crept up on Byram since he strained a hamstring in a 2-0 win against Blackburn Rovers on December 9. Firpo has suffered even more heavily on that front and left the field at Cardiff with a dead leg, albeit that’s a problem Farke expects to clear up quickly.
In the past week, Leeds have been linked with Luton Town’s Ryan Giles and Borna Barasic of Scotland’s Rangers. They also have a speculative eye on Ben Davies if changes to the squad at Tottenham Hotspur before deadline day make him a potential loan target.
Another Wales international, so somebody well known to potential Elland Road team-mates Joe Rodon, Ethan Ampadu and Dan James, Davies can play as a left-back and left-sided centre-back — versatility that Farke would benefit from in the second half of the term. However, it feels incredibly unlikely that Spurs would sanction such a move.
Farke’s central defensive hierarchy has been altered by the awkward situation surrounding Cresswell.
The 21-year-old is fourth in the pecking order and, as a result of what Farke sees as a lack of commitment and focus, is being excluded from the matchday picture. Cresswell wants to move on in search of more first-team minutes and Leeds would seriously consider an acceptable offer following recent events, but they value him at more than £4million ($5.1m) and have no desire to lose him on loan to a direct rival — much of the interest in Cresswell is coming from teams at the top end of the Championship, including at least one side who are in firm contention for promotion.
Farke wants his squad to have four centre-backs in it, so any exit involving Cresswell would have to be offset by a signing. (Although Ampadu has featured in the centre of defence during the past two matches, helping keep back-to-back clean sheets, he has been the prime pivot in Leeds’ midfield and Farke is not minded to take him out of that role more often than is necessary.)
All in all, defensive recruits seem most essential in the market, even though Leeds went into this window thinking an extra attacking midfielder might be useful too.
They looked at Liverpool’s Fabio Carvalho but Championship neighbours Hull City made a successful loan offer for him with a cast-iron promise of regular minutes, something the Premier League club insisted on. David Brooks is another player of interest and though Bournemouth have been in two minds about whether they might be willing to let someone borrow him, their position on retaining the 26-year-old Wales international could soften as the window enters its closing stages.
For Farke, it is a classic case of plates spinning as the window wears on, of a manager waiting to see how the cards fall.
He made the point last week that Leeds are not desperate for new faces, and desperation is hardly the vibe around Elland Road, but any prudent assessment says that, in specific positions, the club would be wise to cover their backs.
It will soon be time to turn cautious optimism into firmed-up deals.
(Top photo: Marc Atkins/Getty Images)
