Daniel Farke has already confirmed Leeds United are in for a ‘quiet’ January transfer window.
Farke has insisted Leeds will remain ‘awake‘ over the course of the month but doesn’t want many, if any signings being made that could risk upsetting the balance of the squad.
The Leeds boss has suggested only a serious injury to one of their key players could force their hand, like it did when Josuha Guilavogui was signed on a free to replace both Ethan Ampadu and Ilia Gruev.
However, there is also always the possibility of players moving on when the window opens, as shown by the likes of Djed Spence and Luke Ayling last season.
That saw Leeds enter the market to bring in Connor Roberts and so if someone was to move on, a similar sort of deal could materialise again.
Carlton Palmer says Rangers want Joe Gelhardt permanently
One player who looks like he could be on his way out in January is Joe Gelhardt, with Rangers, several Championship sides and two Belgian clubs all keen.
Gelhardt has played just nine minutes of league football this term and it is looking like yet another season of limited football, which just can’t continue for much longer.
Gelhardt is keen on leaving Elland Road in January to go out and play regularly, and pundit Carlton Palmer has given his verdict on the situation to Football League World.
Although a loan move does look the most likely scenario, Palmer believes Rangers would prefer to sign Gelhardt permanently, or at least with a future purchase option.
He said: “Joe Gelhardt, the young Leeds United centre-forward, has had very limited game time at Elland Road under Daniel Farke, so it makes sense that they allow him to go out on loan in January.
“I don’t believe that Daniel Farke will stand in his way, he has Joel Piroe, Patrick Bamford and Mateo Joseph in front of him in the pecking order at Elland Road, but he has stated that his priority is to get the club promoted and, unfortunately, players who haven’t been allowed to go out on loan have to stay in the building in case they pick up injuries.
“Obviously, Daniel Farke wants to see the young players progressing, but also he’s got to look at the basis of his job which is getting the club promoted.
“One of the clubs really keen on him is Glasgow Rangers. They would prefer to strike a permanent deal to take the forward to Ibrox rather than strike a loan deal, or they want a clause where they can buy him after taking him on loan, which is always a sensible thing to do, because if a player goes out on loan you want the player to do well, but if he does well you want to be in the position to be able to sign him.
“If you don’t have a clause agreed to that, then it becomes a problem, so I understand why clubs aren’t willing to take players unless there’s a clause in place to buy them.
“But there’ll be no shortage of offers for the 22-year-old centre-forward if he’s available for loan. Stoke City, Portsmouth, Plymouth Argyle and Preston North End all have an interest in him.
“This would be a fantastic move for the young boy as he needs to go out and play, and while he’s a prospect and has a long-term contract at the football club, so if he’s going to leave they’ll want a sizeable amount of money for him to go so it looks like a loan is the best path out of the football club to get some football at this period of time.”
Rangers wouldn’t be a good move for Gelhardt
The one and only thing Gelhardt needs to be focusing on with his next move is game time and that makes Rangers a less than ideal destination.
Not only do Rangers’ struggles in the Scottish Premiership mean he would be arriving to a toxic environment, but he is likely to face the same sort of issue with game time.
Gelhardt would be a far from guaranteed starter at Ibrox which would make it impossible for him to string a run of starts together.
He should instead be looking at a lower Championship club such as Portsmouth or Preston North End, who are both interested.
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