Leeds United
Championship
Leeds transfer news: Liverpool man among targets as Phil Hay reveals stellar 10-man Daniel Farke shopping list
Daniel Farke is the Leeds United manager
Leeds United expert Phil Hay has shared 10 players the club could be looking at as potential signings for their new era under Daniel Farke.
After Sam Allardyce was unable to save Leeds from relegation, it is now up to Farke to try and get them back into the Premier League. However, he will have to do so with a significantly different squad to the one that went down.
Several players are expected to leave Leeds after their return to the Championship. It could open up several vacancies to fill in their playing squad.
Now, in an update for The Athletic, Hay has revealed exactly where Leeds might be looking as they aim to replenish the ranks.
First and foremost, they will need one or two new goalkeepers, since they expect to sell Illan Meslier (who is admittedly yet to be the subject of any official bids) and Joel Robles has so far declined their invitation to return to training after his contract expired.
In that regard, they have drafted up a shortlist including Karl Darlow from Newcastle, Freddie Woodman from Preston and Angus Gunn from Norwich, but look to have missed out on Man City’s James Trafford to Burnley.
In defence, their interest in Liverpool backup option Nat Phillips has been reiterated for the centre-back position. Hay has relayed that Farke was interested in taking Phillips to Norwich in his previous job and could now lure him to Leeds for £10m if they can fend off competition from Dutch champions Feyenoord.
There will also be the need for a new left-back, since Junior Firpo is up for sale. On that front, they could take Ryan Manning on a free transfer after he left Swansea, or their own academy product, Charlie Taylor, from Burnley.
Leeds targets for midfield and attack emerge
Moving into the midfield, Farke is ready to give a bigger platform to youngsters like Darko Gyabi and Archie Gray. In terms of new arrivals, though, Leeds are looking at Gustavo Hamer from Coventry and Han-Noah Massengo after his release by Bristol City (whom they would still have to pay compensation for).
Hay has added that Leeds want to assess their options in attacking midfield. At the top of their formation, though, they already have some ideas of strikers they could sign.
For example, they could take advantage of Joel Piroe – a target from last summer – being in the last 12 months of his contract with Swansea. Their backup plan would be to swoop for Sam Surridge from Nottingham Forest.
Interestingly, it is claimed that Farke wants to keep misfiring club-record signing Georginio Rutter, but use him in a wider role and not as a centre-forward.