Official update on Leeds transfer mystery emerges as multi-million talks underway
Daniel Farke has shown signs of having a long-term future as the manager of Leeds United in the Premier League, given the form his side has been in since the start of December.
Leeds returned to winning ways with a 1-0 victory over Fulham at Elland Road on Saturday, after a four-match run without picking up three points.
However, the stats show that Farke has now actually lost just one of his last nine Premier League games – and even that was Leeds’ heartbreaking late defeat to Newcastle.
In that run, Leeds have played Chelsea, Liverpool twice, high-flying Brentford, FA Cup holders Crystal Palace and bitter rivals Manchester United.
But despite the promising run, the Whites are still 16th in the table, and their eight-point gap to the relegation zone could vanish in the blink of an eye if things start to go south.
Top journalists dispute Leeds transfer move for Romano Schmid
Fortunately, Leeds have shown signs that they want to be active in the winter transfer window by shipping off Jack Harrison to Fiorentina and signing Facundo Buonanotte on loan from Brighton.
PSR is undoubtedly an issue for Leeds, but Farke, Paraag Marathe, and Adam Underwood are working as hard as they can to secure good, cost-effective deals.
However, that hasn’t stopped Leeds from being linked with a fairly bizarre move for Werder Bremen attacker Romano Schmid in the last few days.
Romano Schmid factfile:
- Date of birth: 27 January 2000 (age 25)
- Place of birth: Graz, Austria
- Position: Attacking midfielder
- Current club: Werder Bremen
- Former clubs: Sturm Graz, Red Bull Salzburg, FC Liefering (loan), Wolfsberger AC (loan)
- International: 31 caps and three goals for Austria
Fabrizio Romano reported on Sunday that Leeds have made an approach to sign Schmid, and that talks over a £13million deal are underway with Werder Bremen.
Yorkshire Evening Post journalist Graham Smyth has already clarified, however, that Leeds did look at Schmid before they signed Buonanotte and are not interested in signing him anymore, “unless something crazy/unforeseen occurs“.
There’s now been an official update on the disputed transfer rumour, too.
Werder Bremen’s sporting director Clemens Fritz has confirmed that Leeds haven’t made a move for Schmid, who’s a key player for the Bundesliga club, having started all 17 of their league matches this season.
“No one has contacted us about Romano. We are currently not expecting a transfer in the winter and are planning with him for the rest of the season,” Fritz told German newspaper BILD, as printed on Tuesday.
This is why Fabrizio Romano is so eager to push this rumour
Let’s face it, Smyth is right – Leeds don’t need to sign Schmid now.
The Yorkshire giants are having to carefully manage their financial losses in order to not breach PSR and suffer a points deduction, so why would they spend £13million plus add-ons on a player they don’t need?
Despite the obvious, Romano has posted several updates on Leeds trying to sign Schmid, which looks like the work of agents to try to ramp up some interest in his client.
| Competition | Appearances | Goals | Assists | Yellow cards | Red cards |
| Bundesliga | 17 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 0 |
| DFB Cup | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Reliable Bremen website DeichStube claims that Schmid’s agency, CAA Base, has been trying to win a move to the Premier League for their client.
It’s very likely that this has been what’s happening behind the scenes to get Schmid’s name out there among top-flight clubs in England.
Leeds have been used a little bit due to their past interest.
Stay up to date this winter with our Leeds transfer tracker. Click to see every done deal at Elland Road, plus expert reaction from our team of writers.