Since taking over as Leeds’ manager in July of last year, Farke has assumed a significant role in player recruitment alongside recent additions Nick Hammond, Gretar Steinsson, and Jordan Miles.
In order to rebuild the team following relegation, Leeds brought in nine new players last summer, with Connor Roberts being the only one to arrive in January.
Overall, Leeds has recruited well under the new leadership, with players like Joe Rodon and Ethan Ampadu making excellent purchases.
Nevertheless, Leeds did miss out on a few important targets this season, like Gustavo Hamer and Nadiem Amiri, which has surely left them lacking in the number 10 spot.
Amiri was an obvious number ten that Farke truly wanted at the end of the transfer window, but Hamer was Leeds’ primary midfield target until he ultimately joined recently promoted Sheffield United.
In reality, Leeds and Bayer Leverkusen reached an agreement for Amiri’s signing, but that was only the beginning of one of the biggest stories of the team’s summer.
If German reports were to be believed, Amiri had stated multiple times that he was not interested in moving to Leeds, but he has since stated in a Watson interview that this was untrue.
Amiri acknowledged that he had flown to Leeds to see what the team had to offer, but he remained in Germany because he was never very persuaded for “family reasons.”
“Leeds really wanted me,” he declared. They requested me to just look at everything on site and made me a pretty aggressive offer. However, I couldn’t truly picture it, particularly in light of my family. It wasn’t decided upon, but I was expected to sign right immediately that day when I was there.
“Most of the information you later read in the media was untrue. I was quite explicit about the fact that there was no back and forth regarding the acceptances and rejections from the beginning.
“It was disheartening that everyone believed I was the villain afterward; it goes to show that a lot goes on in the background that the general public is unaware of, and in the industry, people occasionally forget that we are people, not just products.”
Leeds has really suffered with the number 10 position all season, and this is the real cause of many lost points.
Farke’s team hasn’t been able to unlock the door against the Whites, as a result of so many teams being content to sit back and absorb pressure.
Joel Piroe was there for the majority of the season’s first half and scored goals, although he never seemed really at ease. Georginio Rutter does lose the ball a lot in that area, but he has had some excellent games since switching positions in January.
Amiri might have been Farke’s dream player since he is the kind of number 10 who loves to get on the ball and create things with his passing. But in the end, things don’t always turn out as planned.
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