Leeds United need to keep an eye on £10m summer target as they should move again in January

Now the dust has settled on another busy summer, Leeds United will probably be feeling fairly happy with how the squad now looks.

Around a couple of weeks before the end of the transfer window, Daniel Farke named four positions he felt needed strengthening – full-back, central midfield and attack (x2).

In the end, Leeds managed to strengthen in all of them as Isaac Schmidt, Ao Tanaka, Largie Ramazani and Manor Solomon all made late moves to Elland Road.

Having said that, Farke did somewhat change his mind towards the very latter stages of August by suggesting he wanted another number 10 on top of those aforementioned four.

Georginio Rutter’s £40 million move to Brighton has left Leeds a little short in that department, and despite their best efforts, they did not end landing one.

What Leeds must now do with Roland Sallai interest

Given how important Rutter was, Leeds were seemingly willing to spend big money on finding his replacement.

Gustavo Hamer and Roland Sallai were the two main top targets, with a couple of offers knocked back by Sheffield United for the former, and talks with Freiburg for the latter leading no where.

If Leeds do decide to enter the January window for another number 10, there is little point wasting their time on bidding for Hamer again.

Leeds and Sheffield United are both likely to up around the top two, and if that is the case, in no world would Chris Wilder sanction a transfer to Elland Road.

However, Sallai certainly remains someone they should keep an eye on. The 27-year-old is out of contract at the end of the season and so January would represent Freiburg’s last chance to get a fee.

Sallai was open to a new challenge in the summer and if there is no change to his contract situation, it is likely that will also be the case when the window re-opens.

Talks towards the end of the window were centred around a £10 million deal for Sallai, and that price could be even lower in a few months, which would be a real bargain.

Sallai did not start either of Freiburg’s opening two Bundesliga matches and if Leeds can swoop to bring him in, it could be a signing that pushes them over the line in the second half of the campaign.

What Daniel Farke said about Leeds’ failure to add a number 10

Saturday’s post-match press conference after the win over Hull City was the first time Farke was able to speak in great detail about Leeds’ transfer window.

The number 10 position was something in which he addressed, as he claimed it was a difficult market to find the one they wanted, within their budget.

Perhaps if Sallai comes available at a cheaper price in the winter then he could reconsider his stance and push for it to get done.

Via the Yorkshire Evening Post, he said: “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.

“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.