Daniel Farke’s 20 Norwich City signings in the Premier League prove he deserves backing at Leeds United

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Leeds United have decided to back Daniel Farke ahead of next season and the manager deserves a chance given the players he was given during his previous Premier League campaigns.

The celebrations have hardly ended after Leeds United secured Premier League promotion and there will be more to come when they host an open-top bus parade in May.

Yet, the glow Leeds are basking in dimmed slightly on Wednesday when it emerged Leeds were ‘considering’ sacking Farke due to concerns he will be unable to keep the side in the top flight.

Leeds are set for a massive cash injection in the Premier League but maintaining that income will be crucial as the club moves forward with plans to expand Elland Road.

However, it has now emerged on Friday in a report by The Athletic that the 49ers will keep Farke in charge for next season.

The concern over Farke’s Premier League failings is justified but it’s no wonder he struggled given the limited resources he had at Norwich City, with the 20 signings he was given hardly inspiring.

Every player Daniel Farke has signed as a Premier League manager

Farke has now secured three Premier League promotions, but his time in the top flight has not gone well.

The Leeds manager has won just six out of 49 matches in the first division. Norwich went down in his one full campaign and he was then sacked after winning just five points from 11 matches after guiding the Canaries back up as Champions.

Yet, Simon Jordan believes he was set up to fail due to a lack of investment and the signings he did make certainly support that view.

Norwich were promoted in 2019 and spent a mere £11m, with most of that on loan fees, during the season.

Sam Byram, a current member of the Leeds squad, was the biggest summer signing in a £750,000 move from West Ham.

Norwich did manage to keep hold of their best players, who won the Championship, but did not improve the squad in the slightest, with none of their six summer signings or three January additions making an impact.

Improvements were made the next time Norwich came up in 2021, as 11 players were brought in and around £45m was spent. There was some talent with the likes of Christos Tzolis and Mile Rashica signed, but they struggled to adapt to the Premier League.

Jordan believes even £45m is far too low an expenditure on players, though, saying Leeds will have to spend £50m-60m at a minimum to have a chance of survival.

Every signing Daniel Farke made as a Premier League manager

Daniel Farke can’t be judged on previous Premier League record

Only two players Farke signed at Norwich as a Premier League boss remain at Carrow Road in Angus Gunn and Josh Sargent who, ironically, is now being linked with a move to Leeds.

Out of all 20 signings, you could only say that seven of them – Tzolis, Billy Gilmour, Ozan Kabak, Pierre Lees-Melout, Dimitrios Giannoulis, and Ondrej Duda – have gone on to better things, showing just how poor Norwich’s recruitment was.

They did not prepare adequately enough to compete against Premier League sides with humungous budget advantages and they were predictably punished.

It’s hard to judge if Farke can cut it at the highest level until he’s been backed significantly there, which will hopefully happen this season.

There are already reports that Leeds will spend at least £100m in the transfer window. If results are still poor after that, then it is time to be judged.

One area that should be of concern to Leeds this summer, though, is how much of a say Farke had in recruitment when Norwich did spend money.

If he was heavily involved and, given so many of those signings were busted flushes, it would be a mistake to give the German free rein on signings this summer with so much on the line.