Daniel Farke shares Junior Firpo contract update at Leeds United
Leeds United had a quiet winter transfer window as Daniel Farke looked to keep his side settled in his side’s promotion push.
The Whites currently sit at the top of the Championship table, clear by two points and five ahead of third, but there is plenty of football left to be played this term.
Automatic promotion is the only aim at Elland Road this term and Leeds will have to keep their standards high for the remainder of the campaign.
Leeds United yet to open contract talks Junior Firpo
With Farke focused on his side’s push for promotion, contract talks have certainly taken a back seat at Elland Road throughout the season so far.
However, there are a number of players who are reaching the final months of their contract in the remaining months of the season with no idea what the future holds.
Junior Firpo, Sam Byram and Joshua Guilavogui are all names on that list and the boss has confirmed that there is no further update on the trio’s situations [Adam Pope, 10 February].
When asked in his pre-match press conference if there is any further news, the boss said in quotes reported by Leeds Live (10 February): “No we are playing every three days so no time for contract talks. For Josh, we signed him for the period.
“We talk with contracts when players are back in rhythm. No time to waste any energy on that.”
Daniel Farke has his focus in one place at Leeds United
In fairness to the Leeds manager, right now he is right to have his mindset purely focused on the football pitch with performances needing to continue to be a high standard up until the end of the season.
As the boss also says, there is a very busy schedule of football at the moment and you have to wonder if there is any need to potentially distract players by starting these conversations while they are constantly expected to perform every few days.
Furthermore, Farke may feel like some contract decisions are dependent on what happens to Leeds in the Championship this term and where they might find themselves in the new campaign.
With this in mind, it could be in the Whites’ interest to put these conversations on the back burner, pushing the players to perform in order to get their rewards while the boss gets to make his mind him on what he wants his squad to look like.
That being said, Leeds do have to be careful not to neglect these conversations for too long as they could suddenly find themselves in a difficult position by the end of the season with no upper hand when it comes to negotiations.
Farke is not a naive man and Leeds have been in this position before so you don’t imagine they will get caught out with these three players but they do have to keep an eye on the ticking clock and get their negotiations done sooner rather than later.