Guardian writers’ predicted position: 17th (NB: this is not necessarily Louise Taylor’s prediction but the average of our writers’ tips)
Last season: 1st in the Championship
Prospects
Can Leeds resist the increasingly powerful gravitational pull of the Championship? Could they defy the growing expectation that, these days, promoted teams will be restricted to one-season top-tier stays? Daniel Farke is certainly behaving like a man on a mission to avoid immediate relegation and seven summer signings have added much-needed height and aggression to last term’s technical but slightly diminutive squad. Yet while the arrivals of Lucas Perri, Jaka Bijol, Sebastiaan Bornouw, Gabriel Gudmundsson, Sean Longstaff and Anton Stach have fortified the goalkeeping, defensive and midfield departments, Lukas Nmecha remains the sole attacking signing. Given Patrick Bamford has been told he will be sold and Mateo Joseph and Joe Gelhardt have left on season-long loans Leeds are racing against time to rebuild the front end of the team.
“We are not naive,” Farke said after the 1-1 friendly against Villarreal. “We know that in the offence we are not ready for Premier League level. We know that even in comparison to our Championship offence you could say that we are not much improved.
“I can’t guarantee that for the first game everything will be ready and we are fully equipped but we definitely have to make sure that, latest, after the first international break in September, we have a really competitive squad for the Premier League. We’re not anxious but we are fully aware we need to do something.”
In the interim, Joël Piroe, last season’s Championship golden boot winner, has a chance to show he is a top-tier striker.
If the imports look sound – and the Slovenia centre-half Bijol, a £15m buy from Udinese, seems a particularly shrewd purchase – an awful lot hinges on how swiftly they adapt. Leeds fans must hope the team’s framework is sufficiently robust to showcase the talents of last season’s stars, most notably the Wales winger Dan James and the Japan midfielder Ao Tanaka.
The manager
Too many managerial media addresses are anodyne, but the amiable Farke, almost always interesting and evidently emotionally intelligent, is a welcome exception to the rule. The one-time economics student with the look of a former heavy metal star has achieved three promotions to the Premier League, the first two with financially challenged Norwich sides. The 48-year-old German remained dignified in the face of intense speculation regarding his Elland Road future last May. The Leeds chair, Paraag Marathe, ended it by declaring “he’s my man, but the task is undeniably formidable. As Farke says: “In the past 21 years, Leeds have spent three seasons in the Premier League but that’s where this club belongs. My job is to keep us here.”
Off-field picture
Running Leeds has always been challenging, but the San Francisco-based 49er Enterprises is faced with the tricky task of staying on the right side of profitability and sustainability rules while remaining competitive on the pitch. This balancing act is only complicated by the reality that promotion has coincided with a major redevelopment project intended to expand Elland Road’s capacity to 53,000. With a formal planning application now submitted to the city council, building work could start before Christmas. While Robbie Evans, an analytics expert, is the club’s new managing director and replaces the former CEO Angus Kinnear, who is now at Everton, the long-serving Adam Underwood has been promoted to sporting director.
after newsletter promotion
Star signing
Farke believes England’s domestic market represents bad value, but central midfielder Longstaff has been bought from Newcastle for an initial £12m, potentially rising to £15m. Only the excellence of Sandro Tonali, Bruno Guimarães and Joelinton kept the cricket-loving Tynesider out of Eddie Howe’s first XI, but he is too good not to be playing regularly. With 171 Premier League appearances behind him, Longstaff brings invaluable experience and is an excellent character off the field, always ready to support and encourage teammates. Games are often won and lost in midfield and with Longstaff, Stach, Ethan Ampadu, Tanaka and Illia Gruev competing for places, the engine room appears well staffed.
Stepping up
Harry Gray, the grandson of Frank Gray and great nephew of Eddie from the Leeds sides of the 1970s, and the younger brother of Tottenham’s Archie Gray, is a poised, two-footed striker, equally adept as a No 9 or a No 10. The England Under-17 international has made one first-team appearance last season and does not turn 17 until October, but his cool, incisive finishing, precocious technique and advanced ability to read the game dictates he is the subject of considerable excitement at the club. Leeds are anxious not to rush Gray’s development, but Premier League defenders are unlikely to relish being introduced to his precocious skill set.
A big season for …
“I probably have something to prove in the Premier League,” said Wilfried Gnonto this summer. It is important to remember that his exquisite dribbling skills and extraordinary change of pace belong to a winger who does not turn 22 until November. Gnonto has 13 Italy caps, but his challenge is to establish hitherto elusive consistency and nail down a regular place in the starting XI. Few top-tier defenders will welcome the experience of him running at themand the time has come for Gnonto to eliminate erraticism from his game.
