Leeds United sent Mauricio Pochettino advice with ‘proper top manager’ needed if Daniel Farke goes

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Two days. That is all it took for Daniel Farke’s future at Leeds United to be brought into question, even before the confetti had even been swept off the Elland Road turf.

On Sunday, Daniel Farke was toasting a successful attempt to bringing Premier League football back to West Yorkshire.

While the beers remain on ice for now – Farke wants to secure the Championship title ahead of Burnley before he lets his inner ‘fire beast’ loose – a third promotion out of England’s second tier cements his position as one of the finest coaches ever seen at this level.

But while question marks hang over a number of Leeds United players – can Ao Tanaka, Jayden Bogle, Joel Piroe and co make the step up? – it appears there are some behind the scenes who share harbour similar doubts about the man who exceeded Marcelo Bielsa’s record points haul of 93 with two games remaining.

According to the Daily Mail, while the Leeds hierarchy are not completely against giving Farke the chance to show he has learned from his previous top-flight struggles at Norwich City, the German could make way if a truly elite-level replacement can be secured.

Leeds United urged to consider USA boss Mauricio Pochettino

Leeds are reportedly thinking of coaches in the remit as Andoni Iraola.

Leeds held talks with now-Bournemouth boss Iraola back in 2023, and he his reputation has gone through the roof since then.

And while booting Farke out the door would leave a sour taste in many a mouth, former Tottenham Hotspur, Wolves and Portsmouth midfielder Jamie O’Hara feels that the Yorkshire giants are right to consider all the options available to them.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
1	LeedsLeeds	44	27	13	4	89	29	60	94
2	BurnleyBurnley	44	26	16	2	61	15	46	94
3	Sheff UtdSheffield Utd	44	27	7	10	60	35	25	86
4	SunderlandSunderland	44	21	13	10	58	41	17	76

If someone like a Mauricio Pochettino shows interest in taking charge, meanwhile, then there is rightly a limit, he argues, to how far loyalty can stretch.

“In the last two seasons, three teams have come up, three teams have gone down,” O’Hara says, albeit Ipswich Town’s fate has not yet been sealed mathematically.

“Maybe Leeds are looking at it like there are players who are really good in the Championship but not quite good enough for the Premier League. There are those players out there, who don’t quite do it.
It’s the same for managers.

“Some managers are really good at getting teams out of the Championship, they are just not quite enough for the Premier League to keep them up.”

Jamie O’Hara says Leeds cannot become another Norwich City

Speaking exclusively to Leeds United News, football correspondent Graeme Bailey explains that Leeds are looking to cement themselves in the Premier League.

Rather than bouncing endlessly between the divisions, an ambitious ownership group and minority shareholders Red Bull have ambitious plans for an assault on Europe a few years down the line.

And O’Hara feels that, if former Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain and Tottenham Hotspur coach Pochettino can be lured away from the USA job with the 2026 World Cup just around the corner, this is the sort of ambitious, potentially transformative deal Leeds must look to strike.

“Leeds might be saying; ‘We’ve got a bit of money, a bit of investment. We are a big football club. Why don’t we make the decision now instead of waiting eight, nine, ten games in the season where we are hoping it goes well and we let [Farke] buy his players?’,” O’Hara adds.

“It’s harsh, and I feel for him. But if they are backed by Red Bull, they might have a Pochettino, I don’t know, a proper top manager [in their sights]!

“Leeds are a massive football club. A big fanbase. You can’t afford to go back down again. You can’t be that yo-yo club. You are bigger than that. You’re not Norwich, you’re not Watford.”