Daniel Farke reveals Helder Costa Leeds United future update ahead of trip to Southampton
Daniel Farke has confirmed that Helder Costa will not be involved for Leeds United any further but has stressed the situation has remained entirely “professional” for all parties.
The Whites boss shared in his pre-match press conference on Thursday (28 September) ahead of the trip to Southampton on Saturday that the club is “working behind the scenes” on a “good solution” for the 29-year-old.
Farke confirmed that the Angola international made clear he wanted a move earlier this summer and that everything has been conducted in a “professional and honest way” but the German only wants a squad of players who are “fully focused”.
Costa had been expected to leave during the summer but no move materialised, and a contract termination had been on the cards.
As yet it hasn’t happened but the attacker has been training away from the first team as he isn’t at all in line for future involvement.
Ship sailed
If Costa sees himself elsewhere and Farke has no need for him then it sounds like a solution can be reached since it is all being carried out without any bad feeling involved.
Luckily for the Elland Road manager he has come out of the transfer window with a lot of strong attacking options, meaning there is no temptation to turn to the man who has been on loan at Valencia and Al-Ittihad for the past two seasons.
Clearly a move elsewhere before the various transfer windows closed this summer would have been preferable all round, but since that hasn’t been secured an alternative will have to be found.
Unless there is scope for a loan in January that would cover his wages it would appear to be a matter of negotiating an early end to his deal.
If there is buy-in from both sides then a compromise may be possible that prevents Leeds United from having to pay up the full amount.
Although his relevance to the first team at Elland Road ended some time ago Costa’s record of eight goals and 11 assists in 78 appearances for the club shows that he was relatively important at one point under Marcelo Bielsa, but that period is now long gone and an exit appears imminent.
In other Leeds United news, Farke has shared three injury absences as a big name returns to the squad after a long time out.