Daniel Farke addresses Leeds failure to sign £18m man on deadline day with ‘not easy’ message

Leeds United boss Daniel Farke has praised 49ers Enterprises for “ticking” his transfer boxes with four late summer signings and with the Whites boss opening up on their deadline day links with Sheffield United playmaker Gustavo Hamer.

The Whites endured plenty of transfer pain in the summer window following their failure to secure promotion back to the Premier League, with the exits of Archie Gray, Crysencio Summerville and Georginio Rutter contributing to Leeds United raising the best part of £140m in sales of players. Indeed, it was the £40m sale of Rutter to Premier League Brighton that perhaps hit hardest, with the club’s record signing moving on after the Seagulls triggered his exit clause with just hours to spare.

At the time, Leeds had only made four permanent deals of their own, with a third-string goalkeeper and a loan signing among those to arrive, leaving supporters to feel the worst and with the club shipping six goals in their opening two matches of the season.

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Thankfully, though, more reinforcements were to arrive for Leeds in the final week with a quartet of new arrivals – Largie Ramazani, Manor Solomon, Ao Tanaka and Isaac Schmidt – all signed on the dotted line to fulfil Farke’s demands on the board for four new arrivals in the final week.

However, all the talk leading up to deadline day at Elland Road was over the possibility of Leeds landing an exciting new No 10 to really complete their squad. The exit of Rutter, although not quite a traditional No 10 in the sense of the phrase, did leave a hole and left open the fact that Leeds could use the opening to sign a specialist that has been lacking since the days of Pablo Hernandez.

Leeds transfers: Farke admits signing a No 10 ‘not easy’

Indeed, the Whites launched an enquiry with Championship rivals Sheffield United to try and find out the parameters of a deal for Brazilian-born playmaker Hamer earlier in the week.

And while TEAMtalk understands that Leeds did not make a firm offer, Blades boss Chris Wilder took serious offence at the proposal and amid claims the Leeds bid had been worth £13m or a small cash adjustment plus Joel Piroe in exchange.

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As it transpired, deadline day passed without the two clubs discussing an actual deal, and with a somewhat sour-faced Wilder taking another furious poke at Leeds.

Farke, though, while not naming Hamer by name, insists signing a new No 10 was always going to be tough for Leeds and with the Blades slapping an £18m valuation on their player, the Leeds boss has instead focused on the positives and has thanked the board for delivering the four players he called upon them to do before the window closed for business.

“I always like if we speak about the window and where we are, I always like to to be honest and open and transparent, and then try to name the situation like it is,” he told the Yorkshire Evening Post.

“So the task was to strengthen us on a few positions, and exactly in the positions where we needed to strengthen the group. We have done the business. We got the full-back, we got the midfielder, we got two offensive options. You could still speak about potentially a traditional number 10. But it was not easy in this market. So for that, it’s good.”

Farke grateful for four Leeds signings

The Whites ultimately ended up spending just over £30m on new arrivals this summer, with Joe Rodon and Ramazani – at £10m apiece – counting for the biggest new arrivals.

Tanaka (£3.4m) and Schmidt (£2.5m) were modest arrivals on deadline day, while Solomon arrives on a season’s loan from Tottenham, for which Leeds are covering a portion of his wages.

Farke, though, was more than happy at bringing in the quartet and feels time will tell at just how good they can be.

“Also the four players that we brought in, I think they are all on a really good age, all 23, 24, 25, no teenagers anymore, but still more or less [going] up the hill in their career, and they are still full of energy and want to improve,” the German added.

“This is good. I like all their characters and mentality. They are desperate to be here. And then for them, it’s a big challenge, also to be involved in such a big club, very interesting players from their potential and also from their quality.

“We also have to be honest, it’s not the finished end products I spoke about. So all of them, never had a game on Championship level.

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“Largie Ramazani, not one game in senior football in the UK.

“Ao Tanaka and Isaac Schmidt, really interesting players, but let’s be honest, they have not played in a top league so far, and especially also not in English football.

“And Manor came, after a difficult, difficult year, after long-term injury. So we’re not the finished product.”

Leeds resume after the international break with a televised game at home to Burnley on Saturday 14 September.