Jesse Marsch says he tried to buy £10m Daniel Farke signing when he was at Leeds United

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Jesse Marsch is back on British soil. In his first managerial role since leaving Leeds United, Marsch takes his Canada side to Swansea City’s stadium to face Wales on Tuesday night.

It is now two and a half years since Marsch was given the sack at Elland Road. Having kept Leeds in the Premier League by the skin of their teeth at the end of 2021-22, Marsch was sacked in February 2023.

Woeful form, questionable tactics that saw Leeds lack width, strange press conferences but most of all, his work in the transfer window – which included forming a whole heap of reunions – simply did not work.

Dan James will be hoping to exact revenge on Marsch after the American manager showed him the door and forced him to Fulham on loan in 2022. Marsch spoke about James’ commitment at Leeds this week.

• READ MORE: Incredible footage of Howard Wilkinson’s sacking on this day, 29 years ago

Jesse Marsch says he tried to sign Daniel Farke signing at Leeds

In stark contrast to Marsch, Farke’s work in the transfer market has been superb. Ethan Ampadu, Joe Rodon, Gabriel Gudmundsson, Jayden Bogle, Ao Tanaka and even Joel Piroe have been superb signings.

Rodon was brought on loan to Leeds from Tottenham in the summer of 2023, and signed permanently for £10m after Archie Gray joined Spurs a year later. Now, Marsch says he tried to sign Rodon while at Leeds.

“[Ampadu] was at Leipzig, he left before I came back. We talked about trying to acquire Joe [Rodon] when I was at Leeds. I understand the Welsh connection and I also had Cameron Toshack on my staff.”

Joe Rodon is Leeds United’s third-best player this season

Rodon won’t be in action tonight. Wales confirmed Rodon had withdrawn from Craig Bellamy’s squad ahead of the 1-0 win over Kazakhstan as the Leeds defender continues to observe concussion protocols.

Graham Smyth has confirmed that Rodon is expected to be available to play for Leeds against Fulham on Saturday, which will come as a big sigh of relief. Rodon has been Leeds’ third-best player this season.

That is according to the stats, with new signings Anton Stach and Gudmundsson also considered among Leeds’ best players. It will be interesting to see if Ethan Ampadu is fit to play against the West Londoners.