Leeds United bullish vow and pre-window comments to haunt 49ers after deadline disaster fails Farke

This time would be different for Daniel Farke.

That was the bullish vow issued by Leeds United when they appointed the German.

They came prepared for questions about Farke's Premier League record.

"Norwich City didn't back him with a Premier League squad - we will be able to do that," said a senior leader.

Have they done that? The jury is very much out.

The window has to be assessed as a whole and they did a lot of solid-looking business when it came to the defence and midfield.

Sean Longstaff's performance against his former club Newcastle United is just a small piece of evidence that he will be exactly what they need in the top flight, but it tallies with the general expectation.

Gabriel Gudmundsson looks like a very tidy left-back.

Jaka Bijol, if and when he gets in the team, will add serious physicality.

Anton Stach has a bit about him, even if he hasn't exactly shone yet.

The new arrivals will all need time to adapt to the Premier League, but in two out of three games so far they have been competitive.

Four points is a decent start and one most would have gratefully accepted from a tricky opening trio of fixtures.

Farke made no secret that grinding out results in August was one thing but doing it across an entire season without additional attacking signings was quite another.

The one goal they scored in the opening three games came from the penalty spot, as if to reinforce his point.

"In comparison to our Championship side, we have not improved our offense," he said a week into August.

"We definitely need signings. We are not prepared yet for a long Premier League season."

But the build-up to transfer deadline day was fraught with frustration and disappointment. However hard Leeds tried they did not finish the jigsaw and in failing to give the manager the attackers he wanted to complete his offence, 49ers Enterprises are facing judgement.

As ever, words uttered months prior will be brought back to roam around Elland Road, groaning in the ears of the ownership all season like the living dead.

“We are going to build the best squad that we can with every penny that we're allowed to spend to go and compete in the Premier League," said chairman Paraag Marathe.

Leeds bid in excess of £26m for Igor Paixão and a further £32m for Rodrigo Muniz, neither of whom they acquired. Instead they got £18m Noah Okafor and free agent Dominic Calvert-Lewin.

Where, fans ask, did the money and the ambition go? Leeds must now answer that and other questions in full. Just how did it come to this?

Farke's attack lost Manor Solomon, their best forward last season, and they went on to say goodbye to Patrick Bamford, Mateo Joseph and most bizarrely Largie Ramazani.

‘That decision in particular now looks all the more naive’

There was nothing Leeds could do about Solomon, who simply returned to his parent club, but they willingly waved goodbye to Bamford, gave Joseph the Spanish move he wanted albeit on loan and farmed Ramazani out on loan to Valencia.

That decision in particular now looks all the more naive.

Marathe said at the end of last season that Leeds had been planning for six months to recruit for the Premier League.

Everyone has a plan until you get punched in the face and the market hit Leeds so many times they must have felt surrounded.

From players whose value never fell into what Leeds felt was an acceptable price range to all of those who simply had better options, months of analysis went up in smoke as attacker after attacker was taken off the table.

So many of the wingers and 10s that had been scouted, admired or approached went to clubs boasting European football or something loftier than a Premier League relegation battle.

Even when Leeds felt like they'd got one done last week, in the form of Brighton 20-year-old Facundo Buonanotte, they failed to get it over the line.

Chelsea gazumped them in one of the stranger moves of the window, for all parties. To be led up the garden path by an elite winger destined for Brazil caps is one thing, but a young loanee? Fool me once, etc.

When deadline day arrived with many feeling at least two were needed, Leeds went to work and came up with a name - Harry Wilson of Fulham.

Afternoon talks ruled out the possibility of a loan but Leeds stayed at the table with their Premier League peers and even though the flight they lined up to bring Wilson up from the Wales national team camp was delayed and then cancelled, they continued to try and work around the geographical and logistical difficulties.

They say it was Fulham who suggested a deal sheet, to give them extra time. They say it was Fulham who pulled the plug before 7pm, scuppering any hope of a deal sheet or a deal at all. Leeds came up short. Again.

Where club chiefs may point to Profitability and Sustainability restrictions fans will point to planning.

Keeping key players is all well and good but there are those in the squad who could theoretically have been sold to create greater PSR headroom.

Waiting so long for Muniz to become available - when it was always possible that he would not - and chasing targets who were always likely to have European football suitors were gambles that might have paid off but did not.

‘Comparisons with Sunderland are inevitable’

Leeds' ability to quickly switch focus between targets according to availability will come under question and comparisons with Sunderland are inevitable, even if the latter had greater room to manoeuvre in PSR terms.

We're talking ifs, buts and maybes but a forensic review of the window and how it was allowed to play out is now required if 49ers Enterprises are firstly to learn from the mistakes and secondly convince the fanbase that they are still the slick, sensible, data-savvy operation that secured promotion to the top flight.

The window cannot be described as a disaster because it started well. At least we think it did, the league table will eventually tell all.

But a good start and all the positivity built in the earlier parts of the summer, even the momentum gained from that win over Everton, will be for nothing if a lack of teeth up front stops Leeds from taking a bite out of 17th place or higher.

It might be possible to scrap and fight their way to survival but attacking quality would have made optimism a much easier place to dwell.

Thus far they haven't exactly looked likely to score from open play. They haven't scored from open play, for that matter. And having signed players capable of attacking set-pieces, they didn't go and get a specialist taker.

On Saturday evening Farke sat back with a valuable and admirable point from a tough game against Champions League side Newcastle United. He threw the onus onto 49ers Enterprises. But they didn't sign anyone.