Leeds United's new January transfer setup could be tasked with number 10 and striker exit

Christmas may just be coming onto your radar, reluctantly, with six weeks still to go, but January is already circled in red at Leeds United. At a time when the club’s recruitment department is being reshuffled, plans will already be in place for the various scenarios they may need to attack when the next transfer window opens.

Gretar Steinsson, technical director, and Jordan Miles, head of recruitment, will be out of the door before the window opens, taking vital player identification expertise with them. So the club needs to be prepared for that transition well in advance of what could be a pivotal month.

Alex Davies, a longstanding and valued member of the scouting team, will step up as the next head of recruitment, while Adam Underwood, head of football operations, will play his biggest role yet in a window for the Whites. Interim football advisor Nick Hammond will start to reduce his hours at Elland Road and collaborate with Underwood on that transition, as the former academy chief plays a bigger part in player trading.

What could be on the agenda, however? There is still an international break and nine fixtures to navigate before the January window opens, meaning everything could change for the Whites.

As the Josuha Guilvaogui pursuit shows, no eventuality could be off the table if Daniel Farke gets the wrong injuries in the wrong positions at the same time. Leeds are running with one of the leaner squads in the league. Only six clubs have used fewer players than Farke (24).

Guilavogui’s arrival did hit two birds with one stone too. The French veteran can plug gaps in central defence and midfield as required. Max Wober’s ongoing return to fitness provides more cover in defence too.

By the time January arrives, Farke hopes to have had Largie Ramazani back in action for a few weeks, with Ethan Ampadu not far behind him. Like Guilavogui, the captain will then bolster the defence and midfield.

In goal, there are three choices for Farke, with Isaac Schmidt and Sam Byram covering each full-back role too. Further forward, the flanks have at least two options on each side, at full strength.

Then in attack, there is the ongoing battle between Joel Piroe, Mateo Joseph and Patrick Bamford for minutes. Behind them is where Farke and Leeds might be tempted to act.

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There are alternatives to Brenden Aaronson in the central pocket behind a striker, but none of them leaps out as a particularly natural solution. Piroe has never impressed there, while Wilfried Gnonto and Manor Solomon’s career-best displays have materialised in wide areas.

As the brief pursuits of Gustavo Hamer and Emiliano Buendia show, Farke was very open to the idea of another creative type if United could make it work. January is notoriously more difficult than the summer to do business, but that has to be an area of the team they, in Farke’s words, stay awake to.

There are very few players in the senior squad who look like they would be granted straightforward exits by Farke. Virtually everyone is either a first-choice starter or a second-choice back-up needed regularly from the bench.

The youngsters, James Debayo, Sam Chambers and Charlie Crew, are unlikely to see much game time this season, but Farke has repeatedly talked up the importance of keeping young prospects close to his coaching staff, at least in their formative years. Alex Cairns is another who seems highly unlikely to figure in 2025, but the manager is not about to leave himself short between the sticks and the season has surely, up to now, mapped out how the 31-year-old expected when he signed in the summer.

Joe Gelhardt does seem to be someone that ticks all the right boxes for a move of some description. The prodigiously talented forward is 23 next year and has played 10 minutes of league football this season.

There have been times he has failed to even make the matchday squad when the squad has been at its fittest. He deserves to play regular football somewhere and there would need to be three or four concurrent injuries to attackers for him to get that at Elland Road.

Bamford is the other player in the squad struggling for minutes and still a few rungs down the pecking order when everyone is fit. His fitness has arguably been the barrier to that, however. When fit, Farke has been complimentary and believes the club would have been promoted last season if his number nine had stayed fit through the run-in.

There will not be many clubs willing to take on Bamford’s sizeable wages even if a move were sanctioned, but that does not look like a risk Farke will take, given Joseph’s inexperience and Piroe’s inconsistency as a starter in attack. The manager arguably sees a future where Bamford gets regular starts at some point this season and scores some crucial goals.