Daniel Farke has made clear that he does not wish to lose any member of his Leeds United squad before transfer deadline day, but conceded that “you can never rule anything out”.

United have lost two senior players this month with striker Joe Gelhardt being loaned out to Hull City, while Charlie Crew has joined Doncaster Rovers for the remainder of the season. Both were fringe players and had collected just four outings between them before their departures.

Farke says he does not wish to thin his squad any further, having last week all but ruled out a loan exit for 19-year-old James Debayo, who has not played since making his senior debut back in November.

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Reports in Spain have been claiming Real Betis hold transfer interest in Junior Firpo. Firpo had missed seven matches over the festive period with a foot problem before making his return to action against Harrogate Town in the FA Cup 12 days ago.

He earned his first Championship minutes of 2025 when he replaced Sam Byram in Wednesday’s 2-0 win over Norwich City on 65 minutes. Despite the links with a move away, Farke said post-match that he does not expect Firpo or any other teammate to leave before February 3.

“Do I expect any exits? No, because we have a pretty small group anyhow,” said Farke, before he clarified: “You never know in this business what happens, if there is a crazy offer. I’ve worked too long in this business, you can never rule anything out. Sometimes there is a development that you cannot predict right now.

“But at the moment, as it stands, we have - compared to our competitors - a quality group, but also not the biggest group in terms of numbers and we can’t allow to lower this number even more.

“So something extraordinary would need to happen to allow one player to leave. As it stands, I don’t expect one player to leave.”

Speaking further on Firpo himself, Farke added: “Junior is a very important player for us. He was six weeks away and he needs minutes.

“He was good going forward today. Sometimes he could have acted quicker and in the duels. The minutes will definitely help him. If Junior is back to his top fitness level he is a really good option at left-back.”