Daniel Farke ‘non-negotiable’ shared over Leeds United transfer
Leeds United manager Daniel Farke had a “non-negotiable” when it came to signing Josuha Guilavogui, according to the Athletic’s Nancy Froston.
The Whites sit at the summit of the Championship after overhauling Sheffield United and Sunderland in the past week and Guilavogui’s pre-Swansea speech on Sunday reportedly played a huge part, according to his manager.
The 34-year-old is yet to start for the Elland Road club in the Championship and featured for just six minutes in both victories against Swansea and Luton Town but he is clearly proving himself off of the field.
The former Wolfsburg man’s words show that he has the mentality and sense of responsibility that the German wants in his squad, according to Froston, who wrote for the Athletic [28 November]: “Unity has been a big theme for Farke in the past few weeks. It was an essential trait to secure the win in the 4-3 fightback at Swansea City, spurred on by Guilavogui’s pre-match team talk.
“A player buying into the team spirit and not affecting the dressing-room mood was a non-negotiable for Farke when considering free agents outside the summer window.
“Guilavogui has exceeded all expectations in that regard and performed well in his role in defensive midfield once introduced.”
Leeds United have the mentality to secure automatic promotion
The Whites have one of the strongest teams in the Championship on the pitch but they also seem to have a mentally strong group off it.
The club are determined to avoid the same heartache as last season when they finished third and missed out on automatic promotion in the last few weeks of the campaign.
They are on the right track, with two huge victories in the last week putting them at the top of the second tier.
It would have been easy to be disheartened after Swansea equalised in the 90th minute on Sunday (24 November) but Leeds got their heads back up and went and won the match with Wilfried Gnonto’s 91st-minute strike.
Against Luton, who were a Premier League team last season, they were ruthless, going 2-0 up by half-time with Daniel James adding a third late in the contest, not allowing the Hatters to derail the promotion train.
The Whites are one of the most in-form teams in the division with a Premier League-ready squad and they finally have the belief that they need to secure promotion.
In others Leeds news, a BBC pundit was wowed by Daniel James in the Luton win.
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