Daniel Farke's Leeds United Premier League claim over Patrick Bamford but striker faces 'reality'

After a rough couple of injury-ravaged years Bamford sparked to life at the start of 2024 with a goalscoring run that brought seven in 10 Championship games. Prior to January his involvement had been largely limited to cameos as he worked his way back from his latest injury issue, but that flurry of goals helped Leeds to set off on a blistering three-month unbeaten league run. A six-game goalless streak followed before he was on target again in a madcap 4-3 win at Middlesbrough, before disaster struck for him and for Leeds.

He missed the final two league games of the season - a 4-0 beating away at QPR and a 1-0 home defeat by Southampton - through a knee injury as Leeds missed out on automatic promotion by six points and then sat out the play-offs, which ended in Wembley heartache at the hands of the Saints.

Farke first put forward his theory that Leeds would have gone up had Bamford been fit and available on Friday night after the 2-0 win over Sheffield United. The Whites boss was discussing Chris Wilder's view that no one will finish above Leeds this season and pointing out that one or two injuries can derail a good run of form.

He expanded on Bamford's importance in Monday's pre-Watford press conference when asked about Bamford's current situation. The 31-year-old centre forward has played just 42 minutes of Championship football this season and is yet to start a single game. Injuries and subsequent recovery periods have again had their way with his availability but Farke continues to regard the once-capped England striker as vital. Subscribe to Inside Elland Road, with Graham Smyth for unique, behind-the-scenes Leeds United coverage, expert analysis and exclusive interviews

"For me, he hasn't to prove anything anymore," said Farke. "He's a top class player, and I spoke about this [before] that I'm 100 per cent sure that with a fully fit Patrick Bamford we would play in the Premier League right now, because we missed him in the run in, a lot. Obviously he was our go-to guy after a bit tricky first part of the season, but especially in the second half of last season. So it's no coincidence that we had our best spells also in terms of point average when he was in the starting line-up. He put in a shift always, and scored goals and chipped in also with assists. He was unbelievably important for us. I would have wished that he would have been available in the last weeks of last season, but obviously he missed them."

Since last season Bamford has had a disrupted pre-season, working his way back from minor knee surgery. A hamstring injury and a knock sustained in training have kept him from hitting what Farke calls 'his rhythm' but even at full fitness it would be difficult to justify his selection as a starting number 9 just now.

In Mateo Joseph and Joel Piroe Farke has two strikers with five and six goal contributions respectively so far in the league. Joseph began the season as the first-choice number 9 and played a huge part in creating chances. Piroe scored three goals as a substitute, got his chance to start at Sunderland and grabbed another. He started again against the Blades and set up late substitute Joseph for a fine goal.

This is the picture facing Bamford, fully fit or not. "I think in general, so then you have to adapt a bit also to the reality," said Farke. "And you have to say that Mateo Joseph and Joel Piroe have youth, also their chances in terms of having more game time during pre-season, I think both of them were fantastic in pre-season, and the same in the start of the season. Mateo chipped in with really good performances with hard work, I think already three assists and two goals. It's not that much with the goalscoring boots on in the last weeks, but thank God in the last game, and then also Joel Piroe stepped up and is already on four or five goals. Also assists. Really good performances, hard work. And then you have to adapt to this. Although Patrick is back right now, also in terms of being fit, he also has to accept, okay, yes, has to wait a little bit, be patient."

A former striker himself, Farke has often put himself in his players' shoes and admitted they might not be content with their gametime. But the manager also repeatedly argues that he's not in post to keep everyone happy. Happily for Farke, Bamford is responding to a frustrating situation in the right way.

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"I'm quite sure, when you have such a CV like Patrick, you also have the tendency to be a bit like, okay, come on," said Farke. "He wants to have it quicker. Because we don't have to speak about this, he has a cap for England, he has scored double figures in the Premier League. He was, without any doubt, also the best striker on Championship level. And has chipped in for this club with many goals for promotion. He has done so much for this club that you're then not perhaps overly happy and over excited, if it lasts perhaps even a bit longer after injury, and you're just sitting more or less on the bench in the in the Championship, and just chip in with a few minutes or sometimes also in recent weeks, you just wait a bit on the bench. Of course, I wouldn't be happy if Patrick would be happy with such a scenario, because he has too much quality. But that's just reality. So I'm not just here to please any player. It's more like I have to adapt to reality and if other players are delivering and also bring some good performances in, I have to take this also in order to make my decisions, who plays, who gets minutes.

"I can't complain about anything, even he came in five minutes [against the Blades], we were 2-0 up. And sometimes, for such an experienced player and also such a proud player, it could be also sometimes tricky to come in just for five minutes. But he didn't show he was annoyed. He came in and helped a lot in order to work, put a shift in, made sure that we were rock solid, so really professional. And also his behavior in the dressing room with the young lads. He still gives some hints to Mateo and has also an excellent fitness level, again, because he's working hard. There's also perhaps one or two times a day and the training pitch, when you're not playing with this CV, that you're not in the best mood and you're not dancing on the table, that's quite normal. I was a striker as well, and was also a pretty proud player and have a full understanding for this."

The good news for Bamford is that Farke predicts more limelight for him as the season continues and his importance has not diminished in the manager's eyes.

"My appreciation for Patrick and how important he is for our group - we're a pretty young group and we need his experience - will never go away. So for me, he's a crucial player. He's already a Leeds United legend, there's no doubt. The reality was that he was struggling with a few injuries, and then you have to take into account that some other players are rising and delivering but I'm pretty sure that Patrick will be very, very important, also for us during the season. He's still important, but he will also be a bit more in the spotlight over the upcoming weeks and months. No one has to be concerned about his mental place, he's much too experienced and much too smart to struggle."