Leeds United make last stand ahead of transfer reinforcements as release clause clarity arrives

Ideally this will be the last stand for an injury-hit, weakened squad in its current, temporary form, before reinforcements start to arrive in the final days of the window.

The expiration of relegation clauses this week have presented a clearer picture of who actually decided to stay and fight, even if question marks have lingered over certain key assets.

Leeds United Supporters Club this week declared their backing for 'all our players' - a view that will not likely be shared by all inside Elland Road on Friday night. Full backing will have to be earned by one or two once the window is closed and once some water has gone under the bridge.

Yet within the squad that Farke fields against the Baggies there are players whose desire to right the wrong of last season did not waver. Luke Ayling is an obvious one - those were not crocodile tears on the final day of last season. Pascal Struijk told the YEP his intention was always to come back and play for Leeds. Archie Gray was going nowhere this summer. Georginio Rutter could quite easily have written his time with the Whites off as a bad job, given the way his first few months played out, but he has not. And perhaps the most noteworthy example comes in the form of Daniel James, a player the club decided had no part to play last season, a player who would have been forgiven for not wanting to suffer the consequences of a relegation to which he did not contribute.

Say what you like about form, ability, end product, consistency or even suitability for a promotion effort, because those things are all matters of opinion, but these players have not rushed for the exit door or downed tools this summer and right now they wear the shirt and the badge that attracts Elland Road's traditional and almost uniquely vociferous support.

Then there's Daniel Farke himself, who from day onehas been trying to tell everyone who would listen that Leeds were going to go through considerable turbulence before September rolled around. The relegation release clauses and the uncertainty they would bring to the transfer window picture were undoubtedly at the forefront of his mind when he first spoke of a bumpy start.

Although there can be little doubt over his feelings on that particular situation, one that no other club in Europe has had to deal with he suggested this week, when you look at the list of players who exercised their contractual right to leave on loan there aren't too many he, or anyone, would have been too desperate to keep.

None of Diego Llorente, Rasmus Kristensen, Marc Roca or Brenden Aaronson played well enough in a Leeds shirt to generate any real popularity or status and though Robin Koch, Max Wober and Jack Harrison were arguably different stories, what that group appear to have lacked is a sufficient sense of responsibility for the club's predicament and a willingness to stay and fight.

In financial terms it is clear the majority would not have sold for the value that Leeds initially paid out, so at the very least getting £25m-plus off the wage bill this summer has been helpful for Leeds and maybe, just maybe, they'll rake in higher transfer fees for some of them in a year's time. With the season underway, all but Koch, who goes for free next summer, are now yesterday's news and 2024 agenda items.

The biggest current problem from that situation for Farke, other than the actual existence of the clauses in two or three cases, appears to be that instead of deciding to write off everyone with one in their contract from the outset, clearing the decks as quickly as possible and then giving him more time to build a new thing, the club held on to hopes of retention. That strategy did not pay off in the cases of Wober and Harrison, but as it stands all of Tyler Adams, Luis Sinisterra and Willy Gnonto remain in the building - if not in the dressing room. How that trio of situations play out will better inform the discussion on how Leeds handled this window and as Farke keeps saying, the time to judge their business is when it's all done.

What Farke has now is a clearer picture of what he will need from the market and irons that were already in the fire can be hammered into deals.

At this stage, though, even the quickest of work by Angus Kinnear, Gretar Steinsson and Nick Hammond will have little impact on the team Farke can put out to face West Brom. So once more into the breach he goes, with what he's got, and having had to face questions all summer for a situation not of his creation, he has earned the backing he will get from Elland Road.

Leeds United still does not look how he wants it to or how he expects it to but this is how it looks for now and come 8pm on Friday night it will be Leeds United against the world again.