Leeds United transfer news: Daniel Farke plans ‘big influence’ after Ethan Ampadu deal amid ‘highly likely’ update – Phil Hay
Leeds United are “highly likely” to see their transfer business “run to the wire” this summer, according to The Athletic’s Phil Hay.
The Whites have now implemented their hierarchy amid a summer of huge change, with Paraag Marathe now confirmed as chairman as the 49ers takeover was made official, and new boss Daniel Farke intent on having a “big influence” on business done during the window.
Sporting director Victor Orta departed last season and Nick Hammond had been brought in with a permanent appointment planned “by October”, but Gretar Steinsson was “impressive enough” in his interview to be appointed this week (18 July) as technical director and the three-man team will be central to the remaining deals, but the dynamic has certainly now shifted from the Andrea Radrizzani-era to make the manager central to decisions.
Hay writes in The Athletic Friday morning (21 July): “The German is expected to work closely with Steinsson and Hammond on that front but he will not be dictated to when it comes to which players to take. Ethan Ampadu, Leeds’ £7million ($9m) arrival from Chelsea, was approached with Farke’s say-so. It will work like that for the rest of the summer window…
“A key to the success of the model will be Steinsson’s relationship with Farke who, as mentioned above, intends to have a big influence on the rebuilding of his squad for the Championship…
“For now, the priority for him, Steinsson and Farke is to follow up the capture of Ampadu with further additions and use the rest of the window to make United properly competitive in the Championship. It is a window in which transfer business is highly likely to run to the wire.”
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It happens less and less often in modern day football but Leeds United are coming off a nightmare season where Orta sourcing players for the manager went terribly.
Hay highlighted the decision to bring in Georginio Rutter for a club-record fee during the January transfer window when then-boss Jesse Marsch had wanted Hwang Hee-chan, and that deal will now be synonymous with the Spaniard’s time at the club and the chaos of the previous campaign.
The new ownership is clearly going in another direction, and in Farke they have arguably appointed a manager in whom there will be more confidence than any since Marcelo Bielsa.
He has the credentials to be a success in the Championship so it should be a good thing that his decisions will be central to the transfer market, assuming Marathe in full charge doesn’t follow his predecessor in cycling through managers with abandon like last term.
On the face of it Ampadu looks like a very sensible first deal under Farke, but he is going to need a fair few more like it before the new season kicks off, and potentially afterwards.
It was a scramble on deadline day last season, one which saw the unlikely success story of Willy Gnonto arrive, and thanks to the delayed nature of everything this year it appears fans are set for another day of late drama.
In other Leeds United news, talks to agree a contract with a free agent have been hijacked by a super-rich alternative putting “big money” on the table.