Daniel Farke may have sent 49ers Enterprises January transfer ultimatum with ‘naive’ Leeds United message
With less than a week to go in the January transfer window, it has been an incredibly quiet month in terms of incomings so far for Leeds United at Elland Road.
After a summer that saw a complete overhaul of the playing squad, the winter window couldn’t have been much different, with the only real movement being out of Daniel Farke’s side, with both Djed Spence and Luke Ayling moving on to pastures new.
However, the Leeds boss may have just sent a transfer message to those above him at Elland Road, indicating that he needs a new arrival before the window closes, especially as Pascal Struijk remains sidelined through injury.
As quoted by the Yorkshire Evening Post (23 January) he said: “We will assess him also over next days pretty carefully, so hopefully he can return soon and then it would also ease up a bit on the centre-back position our situation.
“We have to for what the next days will bring because actually, we were hoping that he would return after a light problem pretty soon but meanwhile it’s been four and a half weeks.
“We can’t be naive, we also have to assess each and every day what happens with this position.”
Farke’s insistence that Leeds United cannot be “naive” during the next few days could well be a direct message to those in charge of recruitment at Elland Road and the Whites’ owners, 49ers Enterprises, that they need to get moving in the transfer window.
When Struijk is fit and available, Leeds have plenty of reasonable options to feature in the heart of their defence, but without the Dutchman, the responsibility falls on Liam Cooper, Ethan Ampadu and Joe Rodon with very little depth waiting in the wings.
Cooper has had his own injury issues this season and Ampadu has performed excellently in the heart of midfield and ideally, Farke would like to start the Welshman there. That means a new centre-back has to be on the shopping list in the next few days.
Whether or not the Whites will be able to get a deal over the line in the limited time left in the window remains to be seen, however, the 49ers will risk angering their manager if they don’t respond to the message that he sent them during his pre-Norwich press conference.
In other Leeds United news, Neil Warnock has shared his verdict on whether or not the Whites will win automatic promotion
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