Leeds United already look set for a potentially busy January transfer window and Jurgen Klopp could lend an unlikely helping hand.
Leeds brought in eight new players over the summer but already look a bit light on numbers due to the amount of injuries they have had to contend with already.
Ethan Ampadu and Ilia Gruev are both sidelined long-term due to knee issues, while Manor Solomon, Dan James and Max Wober have all also missed several matches.
Particularly in midfield, Leeds are looking a little threadbare and given they are clearly going to be in the promotion reckoning again, January additions to push them over the line would be wise.
Leeds were world football’s most profitable club in the summer and so money should be there to spend if the 49ers so wish.
- READ MORE: Patrick Bamford says what he really thinks of the players Daniel Farke signed for Leeds last summer
How Leeds could lean on Klopp in January
Leeds landed the most lucrative sponsorship deal in EFL history with Red Bull back in June, though the Whites quick to insist it wouldn’t ever go beyond that amid concerns over what they did with Leipzig, Salzburg and New York.
That said, Marathe did suggest Leeds could look to use the Red Bull system’s knowledge of players when it comes to making signings.
And one big name Leeds could look to lean on is former Liverpool boss Klopp, who was named as the company’s new ‘Global Head of Soccer’ on Wednesday, with his role set to start on January 1.
Speaking exclusively on what that could mean at Elland Road to LeedsUnited.News, transfer expert Graeme Bailey says Leeds could look to tap into Klopp’s ‘brain’ when the window reopens, potentially even using him as a persuasion tactic for new signings.
He said: “I think the Leeds current majority owners would be very silly not to lean on him personally, someone like Jurgen Klopp. He is someone who knows the English market well, knows the European market well and so I suspect Leeds will be tapping into his brain for the January window.
“If he gets involved, not in negotiations, but in a phone call to a player saying, ‘I think you should join Leeds’. If that phone call is coming from Jurgen Klopp, that might tip the balance. It won’t do any harm. Let’s see how it plays out, but it’s a fascinating one.”
Farke’s stance on free agent signings
Farke has twice been asked about the prospect of Leeds dipping into the free agent market after losing both Ampadu and Gruev to injury, but seemed pretty confident it wouldn’t happen.
If Leeds do opt against signing someone on a free transfer, it will only enhance their need to make January a busy one. Here is what Farke said after the draw at Sunderland.
“On the midfielder position, after the horrendous news with Ilia Gruev, my attitude [is] I actually don’t like October signings of free agents,” he said. “I don’t believe in it, but when the times are strange, you have to think it.
“It’s one of our professional duties to have a look if there is something out there that makes sense because both holding midfielders, both deep sixes, are not available for several weeks and months.
“Ilia will have surgery, by the way, tomorrow, so we hope it will go well and we can speak a bit more concrete about how long he will be out.
“So I hope also that surgery goes well and that we can also use the next two weeks to bring a few players after injuries even a bit closer to the team.
“Yes, it’s definitely one of our professional duties to have a look if there is something, even out of coincidence, out there that would help us in this situation. Yes, we have to do this.”
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