Daniel Farke reveals Leeds United transfer latest and new injury update following double exit

We have still to be a bit careful, not to overinterpret the game against Harrogate. Manor assisted to the goal when he was playing a bit more wide on his natural left side. Isaac someone to mention, major step forward, but we must not forget it was a spirited Harrogate side but not an opponent on our level or where we want to be so I don’t want to overinterpret Manor’s [performance]. He’s definitely an option there [at No. 10] but there’s also Willy Gnonto, who can also do a job. The best choice, with respect to all the other options in this position, is Brenden if he stays fit. I’m pretty happy with him at the moment.

Manor interprets this role in a 1-v-1 way, Brenden is dangerous scoring but can set up a player. We have some options. We can always speak about more or different type of players. This squad is definitely on top of the league, we are in a good position in order to be successful. Never rule out anything, if we find a player in this position but it’s not like panic mode.

It’s important [a new signing] is a good character. It’s not tennis or golf when you focus just on yourself, it’s important you have a good group. If you head into a game when 11 field players are happy but all on the bench are not happy, not together, if you have such an atmosphere you can’t win anything. On league level or Champions League, it’s never the team with the most expensive squad or best individual players then a few more clubs would have won the Champions League or titles more often. It’s important not to be scared of quality. It’s important you still have good spirit, the group is more important than anything else, we have the quotes on the walls, these quotes are true 30 years ago, now and in 30 years.

Depends on the situation, won’t comment on Wednesday situation. My experience is club is always successful when the key people are tied together on one page. I’m not speaking about other clubs. The people important for me, myself, Adam Underwood, Alex [Davies], we are in daily conversations in transfer windows. Angus Kinnear we’ll also have a good conversation later. This week, Gretar was in, we’re capable to use his network. Nick Hammond with his experience and network supports us with recommendations. After last game I had a good telephone call with Paraag, things we want to do. Perhaps I have too many conversations, just joking. Our conversations are on a top level. Speaking about everything that’s quite important. Peter Lowy texted me today, will be around for a short chat at training tomorrow. We’re working in the same direction.

They were last season involved in the relegation battle, Danny Rohl has done a fantastic job to keep them up, in good position in mid-table, chance to push for top six, in form team, always plays with intensity and spirit on the pitch, a group on the pitch with togetherness. Good balance with experienced Championship players and good young players. They play brave and we have to be on it to cement and stabilise our position.

It’s improving and he’s [Wober] training more regularly but we have to manage his load and the situation around his knee. We have to be a bit more aware and transparent to name it like it is with Pascal’s injury. If we would be in panic mode, the prices of our targets go up, but we are not in panic mode.

With Charlie we had the decision after Ilia Gruev and Ethan Ampadu is back. It makes sense right now that he gets some minutes and grow in his personality. With Joffy it’s not that he’s out for a few weeks, he’s been struggling for gametime for months. His behaviour was always professional but due to our offensive options, it was quite often the case he’s not even in the squad. A player at his age it’s important to create value for us and finds his rhythm back to improve as a player. It was his big wish to use this window to find a solution to get more gametime and because his behaviour was always spot on, we rewarded his wish that we allow him to go on loan. Overall I’m very happy with my squad. The injury to Patrick [Bamford] we may have to stay awake. We’re top of the league, Fourth Round of FA Cup, it’s not easy to find a solution that improves us, great character and is affordable.

We will stay awake until the end of the transfer window. The second topic is if there is a big injury of one of our key players, an emergency case, we may be forced to react a little bit. We need to assess Pascal’s situation quite carefully. If it’s just three weeks then perhaps there is no need to do something. If you bring in a new player he takes a few weeks to settle in. It doesn’t look likely [he’ll be out longer] but last season the injury diagnosis was 2-3 weeks out and he didn’t play one more game for us. I’m a bit more aware and awake on the market. It’s important we have a look at possible options in case there is a negative surprise next week.

Out of precaution we sent him to a scan, the result was a big surprise negative. He will be at least out next three weeks, have to be a bit careful and assess him pretty carefully because if he would be out for a significantly longer period, it would impact our plans. It’s a big blow for the next games. Hopefully it’s just three weeks.

It was beneficial to calm the load for a few days. We focus again on the Championship. To have a few more days between games was beneficial. Patrick is doing progress in rehab, will miss January. Joel is back in team training, fully fit, all other players came through the load really well. Pascal Struijk reported yesterday a little awareness in his hamstring. We had a scan, sadly it’s a muscle injury, will miss three weeks.