Exclusive:How Leeds United's 'tremendous' transfer strategy bore instant fruit with key Ethan Ampadu role
A large portion of Leeds United's summer arrivals have proven successful in their debut Elland Road campaigns.
Tony Dorigo believes Leeds United’s summer signings have settled quickly due to the strength of character already present among the Championship title-winning core.
The 2025/26 campaign has not gone perfectly for all 10 first-team arrivals but as March approaches, none can be considered an outright flop. Core players such as Anton Stach, Jaka Bijol and Gabriel Gudmundsson have been particularly impressive, taking to the Premier League like a duck to water having arrived from Europe.
Adapting to English football has become notoriously difficult and in the Premier League’s most physical of seasons, plenty have struggled. But Leeds recruited for physicality ahead of their return and as Farke regularly points out, sit top when it comes to running stats.
Leeds delved into great detail surrounding their summer targets’ physical capabilities but there was also a strong focus on personality, with Farke known to place huge value in group dynamics. And it’s helped new arrivals settle quickly with an impressive rate of success.
”Normally you look at new signings and if you get 50/50 hit rate, you're doing okay,” Dorigo exclusively told the YEP via Gambling.com who rank and compare licensed UK casinos. “I think we're way beyond that. I think the recruitment has been tremendous, but I don't think that's the only reason [players are settling so quickly].
”It's about understanding what's required but also the character as well. Everyone's got stats on tackles, distances and all that stuff, but what about as a character? I think we've done a lot of work on that, because everyone brought in, I really like their character. The other reason why I think it works so well is the environment they're going into.
“Daniel Farke, his coaching team and the players are a strong group. So they're going into a strong group which is manager-led, then player-led by Ethan [Ampadu] who has grown into a great leader. Then when you bring in the right characters and really good recruitment, that's what we're getting.”
Ampadu is one of several Championship regulars to have stepped up to the Premier League impressively, with many of Farke’s title-winning squad looking right at home among the elite. Joe Rodon and Pascal Struijk have kept Bijol - a fully-fledged Slovenian international - out of the starting line-up for periods while Jayden Bogle made £8m signing James Justin wait for his opportunity.
Tony Dorigo full of praise for Leeds United Championship core
Even in more recent weeks, those who weren’t standout players among the Championship group have stepped up. Ilia Gruev has arguably pushed himself up the central midfield pecking order while the much-maligned Brenden Aaronson is now possibly the first name on Farke’s team sheet every week.
“Let's be honest there were question marks against all of those players because they haven't been successful over a number of seasons at that sort of level,” Dorigo added of the group that came up. “I think the confidence we got from the Championship is one thing.
“Again, it is that strong group that brings you up there but then you've got to prove yourself. I think at the start we had a bit of a struggle, but then suddenly at Man City in the second-half, [we started] to understand we can cause teams problems in different ways, and the belief has started to grow and grow.
”Especially Ethan, I think he's been tremendous. He's a player that when he's missing you can really notice it. He makes others around him better and he’s stepped up this level. He absolutely belongs in the Premier League.”