Daniel Farke has again made it abundantly clear that his Leeds United side needs attacking options brought in, in order to stand a chance of surviving this season.
Since the back end of July, fans were rightly frustrated at the lack of movement in attacking positions following Lucas Perri’s arrival from Lyon.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s arrival on a free transfer is going to be followed by Noah Okafor’s £17.25million move from AC Milan, but there’s hopefully more to come.
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Paraag Marathe and Daniel Farke make Leeds United transfer admissions before and after Everton win
Prior to kick-off against the Toffees on Monday night, chairman Paraag Marathe featured on Sky Sports and dropped a little teaser about Leeds’ business in the back end of this window, something the 49ers have a track record for since taking over at Elland Road.
“History shows there’s always a lot of activity in the last few weeks of the window, certainly the last few days of the window. We’ll exercise every day that we can,” he said.
Leeds United manager Daniel Farke has been adamant about securing new attacking signings on top of Dominic Calvert-Lewin. (Action Images via Reuters/Craig Brough)
After that 1-0 win thanks to Lukas Nmecha’s debut strike from 12 yards, Farke spoke post-match to note that his current attacking setup is enough to tide United over during August, but it won’t be enough to be competitive this season.
“To give the best possible chance this season, need to score and assist,” Farke said, via LeedsLive. “Still in the market. Ready for two or three games but not prepared for full season.”
Theory: Could Leeds United’s raucous Premier League win over Everton help their case to convince “stretch” targets?
In Leeds’ attack, there have been multiple notable attempts to sign what the YEP labelled as “stretch targets” – players that are seen as seriously ambitious for a newly-promoted club, but not impossible to convince to move to West Yorkshire.
So far, Igor Paixao and Rodrigo Muniz represent the two standout failures in Leeds’ attempts to land a lucrative attacker signing, turning to Calvert-Lewin up front with Okafor bolstering the left flank and striker depth too.
Sporting director Adam Underwood and co have been trying to sell transfers to Leeds through presentations depicting how special it is to play for United, using the title parade in May as a prime example, but proof of concept could have been given on Monday night.
If Leeds are planning more of these ambitious meetings, their win over Everton on Monday night could be the tool they need to show targets what it’s like to play at Elland Road in Premier League games, and what it feels like to get this team over the line.
Winning on the first game back is a statement of intent for Leeds, compared with last season’s promoted trio being winless until October, and along with financials being ideal, could be what Leeds require to seal vital transfers going forward towards the deadline.
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