The Leeds United squad for the 2025/26 season is far from complete, with Premier League football requiring more additions and exits.
Leeds United have recently increased their transfer activity after four signings to bolster Daniel Farke’s ranks but Paraag Marathe has already confirmed the need for Leeds sales this summer.
Promotion secured Leeds a financial windfall and just over £30 million has been spent on the defence, which bodes well for Leeds’ estimated transfer budget of £100 million.
Leeds could spend big this summer but the need for sales is also apparent. Players such as Willy Gnonto and Pascal Struijk have been earmarked as PSR sales potentially, alongside Mateo Joseph.
Isaac Schmidt during FA Cup clash between Leeds United and Millwall.
Photo by George Wood/Getty Images
The players most likely to leave Leeds this summer
Some players were on the fringes of Farke’s Championship side in 2024/25 and those out of favour are expected to leave, be that on loan or permanently.
Of course, offers for players like Struijk and Gnonto — who are considered to be first-team squad members — cannot be ruled out totally as they perhaps move the needle the most in terms of giving Leeds the PSR license to spend.
Leeds will hope that they can retain players of that calibre if possible, but that doesn’t rule out the fringe and squad players, or those that have simply not been part of Farke’s plans regularly over the last two seasons.
Beren Cross has outlined the names of the most likely players to depart in The Athletic, with 10 on his mind. He claims Jack Harrison is the headline name with his future up in the air currently.
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He adds that Darko Gyabi, Sam Greenwood, and Joe Gelhardt will not feature in the coming season if they remain, and that youngsters such as Charlie Crew and Sam Chambers probably go on loan to aid their development.
He adds that other cases in the squad will be dictated by incomings, with Illan Meslier, Patrick Bamford, Mateo Joseph, and Isaac Schmidt all named as the clear backup players.
Cross states: “Should Leeds add further recruits, as is expected, at those players’ positions, they may be tempted to look elsewhere for more minutes.”
Mateo Joseph has hands on hips during Leeds United vs Millwall.
Photo by George Wood/Getty Images
Sales are necessary at Leeds for PSR headroom
In spite of the need for sales to unlock doors financially for Leeds, it’s been stated previously that Leeds will be one of Europe’s busiest sides in this window.
Sunderland, Brighton, Burnley, Spurs, and Chelsea are the only five Premier League clubs to sign more than Leeds’ four first-team additions so far.
But the reality is that Leeds still need seven signings after Gabriel Gudmundsson and that is a lot of work to do without sales helping to aid them by creating more transfer budget, wage budget, and PSR headroom.
The majority of that budget will go into Leeds’ spine after securing Jaka Bijol, with a goalkeeper, a couple of central midfielders, and a ready-made striker all required before the deadline.