The last time Leeds United sealed promotion to the Premier League courtesy of former Elland Road icon Marcelo Bielsa, there was a lot of promise in the air that the Uruguayan would be the transformative figure to make the West Yorkshire side a top-flight staple once more.
In all fairness, for a brief moment in time, he looked to be just the radical figure they needed, with a ninth-place finish in the Premier League coming right after the Championship title had been triumphantly lifted.
Unfortunately, it all unravelled from this point onwards, with relegation at the end of the 2022/23 season coming about with Sam Allardyce at the helm, long after the South American’s sad exit.
Can Daniel Farke be the manager to finally establish Leeds as a superpower in the top league? The German has already collected two early wins to guide the Whites to a promising 11th spot, after all.
It appears as if Leeds have really strengthened their options after lifting the second-tier title on a mammoth 100 points, with Farke already in love with a vast portion of his new personnel.
Ranking Leeds' best summer signings
Farke will be desperate to steer Leeds to safety having already tasted the bitterness of relegation from the top-flight when managing Norwich City.
The early signs show that the Whites won’t be basement dwellers, with new signings such as Gabriel Gudmundsson, surely too good to be sucked into a relegation battle.
Minus scoring an own-goal away at Fulham, the energetic Swede has stood out as a very competent replacement for Junior Firpo in the infancy of this season so far, with his determination to keep the ball in play last time out against AFC Bournemouth culminating in Leeds taking the lead.
While he couldn’t follow up on his goal away at Wolverhampton Wanderers versus the Cherries, Noah Okafor also shone as a bright attacking spark against Andoni Iraola’s men.
He will likely be viewed as another sterling summer pick-up, with a tricky three successful dribbles being registered, keeping the South Coast visitors on their toes.
There is also Dominic Calvert-Lewin. He won’t be the best signing Leeds ever make but Premier League-proven, he has shown flashes of his quality at this level already when expertly heading an effort home at Molineux.
But, Anton Stach has a convincing case to be viewed as Leeds’ top bit of business overall, with the £17m forked out to land the German already looking like money well spent.
Why Stach has become so important for Leeds
Stach had impressed early on at Elland Road, but he truly arrived on the scene in some style when hammering home a stunning free kick away at Vitor Pereira’s Old Gold.
Away from just this audacious effort – which was heralded as a “beauty” by Gary Lineker – Stach has also stood out as a well-rounded, aggressive presence in the middle of the park for Leeds in a similar build to fan favourite, Yorkshire Pirlo, Kalvin Phillips.
Of course, when Phillips was at the heart of the Bielsa operation, Leeds managed to finish in that aforementioned ninth spot in the challenging division.
History could well repeat itself with a similarly robust, yet skilful figure now in Farke’s XI, with 3.7 ball recoveries averaged per game this season in Premier League action, followed up by the former Hoffenheim ace also winning a high 5.3 duels per clash.
Games played
6
Goals scored
1
Assists
1
Touches*
53.3
Accurate passes*
28.8 (77%)
Key passes*
2.2
Ball recoveries*
3.3
Total duels won*
5.3
Former Watford striker turned pundit Troy Deeney has also waxed lyrical about Stach since his arrival, labelling the number 18 as “very impressive”.
But, he isn’t the only midfielder who has been on the receiving end of some glowing comments.
Why bargain Leeds star is a better signing than Stach
While Stach instantly bedding in will, of course, raised a few smiles in West Yorkshire, it would have been seen as a big disappointment if the German didn’t come in and hit the ground running from the get-go, having cost £17m to obtain.
Whereas, in the case of Sean Longstaff, Leeds fans would have known all about his Premier League credentials, but might well have erred on the side of caution over whether he’d be an instant success story, having arrived at Elland Road off the back of starting just eight league games last season for Newcastle United.
There needn’t have been any worries, however, with Nedem Onuoha’s prediction of Longstaff joining for just £12m being a “sneaky good” signing ringing very much true, with the former Magpies midfielder pretty much faultless last time out versus Bournemouth.
During that clash, he looked like one “one of the best signings in the Premier League” full stop – as was boldly declared by journalist Daniel Storey.
Staggeringly, away from firing home a superb effort and collecting an assist, the well-rounded 27-year-old also won a mammoth ten duels to ensure his side at least collected a share of the points against the Cherries.
His wider numbers make for some unbelievable reading, too, with Opta statistician Jonny Cooper revealing – after his impactful showing against Bournemouth – that Longstaff has covered a staggering 12km per league clash so far this season.
Also averaging more tackles per 90 minutes this season than Chelsea ace Moises Caicedo as per Fotmob – who once cost a staggering £115m – on top of also averaging more accurate passes than the likes of Crystal Palace favourite Adam Wharton, it’s already abundantly clear that Farke and Co have pulled off a major steal landing the Newcastle-born battler for just £12m.
1. Jaka Bijol
£18.7m
2. Noah Okafor
£18m
3. Anton Stach
£17m
4. Lucas Perri
£15.6m
Weighing up his modest fee next to Leeds’ other notable summer signings further reinforces the bargain Leeds have managed to seal, with injury-stricken goalkeeper Lucas Perri even costing a higher fee at the £15.6m mark.
Therefore, there is plenty of logic behind Storey’s claims, with Longstaff once even receiving praise from Pep Guardiola back in 2019 during the early days of his St James’ Park senior career.
While his time on Tyneside did unfortunately fizzle out, the “outstanding” 27-year-old – as he has already been labelled by his new manager – has undoubtedly already found a new lease of life away from his hometown side.
Longstaff is just one cog in Farke’s machine who can certainly play a key role in Leeds becoming top-flight regulars again.