Ex-Leeds United man expresses squad size concern after Daniel Farke's experience comments

Ex-Leeds United player David Norris has expressed concern about the size of the Whites’ squad this season after a busy summer transfer window that saw the club lose a number of key players.

The Whites have the smallest squad in the division after securing the deadline day arrivals of Ao Tanaka and Isaac Schmidt. Championship rivals Sheffield Wednesday, West Brom and Coventry City are also on the smaller end of the scale in terms of squad size but boast a couple more players each than the Whites.

Leeds generated over £100m in revenue from player sales following the departures of Archie Gray, Crysencio Summerville and Georginio Rutter but Norris feels the Whites were not ready to pay over the odds for their targets, with other clubs aware of the money Leeds had brought in.

Norris speaking to MOT Leeds News, said: “I’m still concerned about the size of Leeds’ squad – it’s bigger than before but still the smallest in the league, and I’m not sure how that might affect them.

“They didn’t get everyone they wanted on deadline day and it’s a good job they managed to get a couple over the line. I personally thought another striker was a must with Patrick Bamford’s injury record. I just feel like they didn’t bite the bullet with paying over the odds for players and tried to do too much on the last day.”

Norris’ comments come after manager Daniel Farke said Leeds United lack the experience or proven quality to accept the tag of 'big favourites' for promotion to the Premier League. The Whites boss also highlighted the absence of a natural number 10 among the new arrivals after Saturday’s 2-0 win over Hull City at Elland Road.

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“The task was to strengthen us on a few positions, and exactly in the positions where we needed to strengthen the group. We have done the business. We got the full-back, we got the midfielder, we got two offensive options. You could still speak about potentially a traditional number 10. But it was not easy in this market. So for that, it's good,” said Farke.

"Also the four players that we brought in, I think they are all on a really good age, all 23, 24, 25, no teenagers anymore, but still more or less [going] up the hill in their career, and they are still full of energy and want to improve. This is good. I like all their characters and mentality. They are desperate to be here. And then for them, it's a big challenge, also to be involved in such a big club, very interesting players from their potential and also from their quality. We also have to be honest, it's not the finished end products I spoke about. So all of them, never had a game on Championship level.”