Your round-up of the latest Leeds United news as Daniel Farke’s team returns to the UK from Germany.
Leeds United extended their unbeaten pre-season campaign on Saturday, defeating Schalke 2-0 to make it three wins from three this summer. Joel Piroe and Mateo Joseph were on target for Daniel Farke’s side, with the latter scoring his third goal in two games with the squad in Germany. Equally promising were the positive performances of newcomers Joe Rothwell and Jayden Bogle, who have adjusted in fast with less than a fortnight till the 2024/25 season begins at home against Portsmouth.
Fans will hope to see more new faces join the likes of Rothwell and Bogle, with Farke revealing while in Germany that Leeds would continue active in the market, with reinforcements at full-back and central midfield on the agenda. The squad is likely to take a few days off before facing Valencia on Saturday, and the YEP has compiled a list of the most recent stories in the meantime.
Sara’s leaving stance
Gabriel Sara is understood to be pleased with the prospect of staying at Norwich City this month, despite recent speculation of a move to Leeds. According to The Pink Un, Sara is ‘happy’ at Carrow Road but might be moved anyhow, with the Canaries needing to sanction at least one large deal with their midfielder garnering a lot of attention.
The 25-year-old surfaced as a reported target for Leeds over the weekend, but it remains to be seen whether interest will grow further, with a number of Premier League clubs, notably Crystal Palace and Leicester City, also believed to be interested. Farke remains open to signing a goal-scoring center midfielder, and while Sara’s 25 contributions (12 goals and 13 assists) were primarily in an attacking capacity, he can play deeper.
Norwich are apparently looking for roughly €20 million (£16.6 million) for the Brazilian and are not yet willing to sell him, with head coach Johannes Hoff Thorup even giving him the armband in pre-season. “We’ll leave transfer rumours and stuff like that for someone else,” Thorup remarked recently when questioned about Sara’s future. “That’s not for me, that’s not for Gabby, we just continue improving and I think it was obvious in the game what he can offer.”
McCarron moves
After failing to make an impact at Stoke City, former Leeds defender Liam McCarron looks ready to join Northampton Town in League One. According to Football Insider, the 23-year-old is in ‘advanced talks’ to leave Championship club Stoke City for free, despite having a year remaining on his contract.
Stoke signed McCarron from Leeds in the summer of 2022, with then-manager Michael O’Neill promising the young defender first-team play, but he was fired in early August, and a loan deal to Port Vale was shortly agreed upon. The Scotland Under-19 international made few appearances for Stoke last season and chose to play for Northampton in a friendly on Saturday rather flying to Cork for a training camp with his present club.
McCarron joined Leeds from Carlisle in the summer of 2019, starting in the youth divisions before being given his Premier League debut by Marcelo Bielsa in December 2021, coming off the bench for an injury-ravaged team in a 4-1 defeat to Arsenal. However, the defender struggled to establish himself in the first team and was unable to do so again at Stoke, with a transfer to League One Northampton intended to provide regular play.
