Leeds United’s summer rebuild moves from the transfer market to the training ground now that the window is closed, as YEP chief football writer Graham Smyth casts his verdict.

There's a trap or a temptation that many football clubs can fall into. No, not the temptation to stick two fingers up at financial fair play rules and spend what they can afford, though it must have crossed Leeds United minds. And no, not the temptation to respond in kind to a rival manager's transfer commentary. The temptation to paint themselves as tremendously clever.

Phrases like 'we actually think' followed by ideas and suggestions that run counter to what is widely understood or assumed. Ideas and suggestions that are so far from the reality of what actually transpires that you can only scratch your head and wonder where they came up with the stuff. Ideas and suggestions that paint what it is the supporters think, want or need as naivety and blissful ignorance. We actually think we don't need a central midfielder/number 9/whatever else in the January window. We actually think yellow shirts won't sell.

There's a problem that many football clubs, and any of us who make predictions and proclamations, can fall into. The one where the sport and its results, league tables and real life events make very clever thinking look a bit silly. Like a central midfielder or fit and reliable number 9 turning out to be exactly what is needed in a relegation scrap. Like yellow shirts flying off the shelves - the best kind of problem, even if it proves you so very wrong.

Leeds United have had some very clever thoughts. Like Bielsa. Like getting out in front of the pandemic's disruption to training. Like signing youngsters from abroad for nothing or next to nothing, namely Pascal Struijk, Crysencio Summerville, Willy Gnonto and Mateo Joseph. Like Ethan Ampadu. Like that yellow shirt, even if it took some badgering.

At the end of this summer transfer window no one can say how clever Leeds' thoughts have been, not yet anyway. The season will tell us in good time. But when 49ers Enterprises break cover to explain to supporters what the thinking and strategy was, whether that is through the mouth of the top man Paraag Marathe or CEO Angus Kinnear, there needs to be plain speaking rather than a retrospective paint job.

By the time the window closed, Leeds had already shut up shop. Isaac Schmidt was the last signing and the Swiss defender's arrival confirmed that Daniel Farke had received all four of his stated wishes. Two attackers, a full-back and a central midfielder. Four wishes granted in the form of Largie Ramazani, Manor Solomon, Ao Tanaka and Schmidt. The first two should prove the club’s ‘patience is rewarded with quality late on’ theory, one probably will and the other might given a bit more time. Of the four Ramazani and Solomon will vie for the ‘marquee’ signing status but the window definitely ended in a more understated manner than many would have liked.

But beyond Farke’s wishes, which had to be met in order for 49ers Enterprises to be able to say they had backed their manager, there was a hope. A hope for a fifth. "I spoke quite extensively that we definitely need a midfield player and also a full-back addition and to stay awake in the offensive positions," said Farke on Thursday. Roland Sallai had been a target and talks took place with SC Freiburg. Gustavo Hamer was a target and an attempt was made. Yet no number 10, no round peg to slot naturally into the Georginio Rutter-shaped hole arrived. So what were Leeds thinking?

Talking about Sallai and bidding for Hamer tells us that Leeds wanted another attacking player, one who could play centrally. Football is never as simple to say that if Blades knocked back say £13m then that £13m could have simply been chucked at Freiburg, but we can say that money was there. And there should have been money, after selling three players for £105m, even if transfer debts were owed and Profitability and Sustainability was biting hard. Committing what money there was available to a central attacker would make a statement to the rest of the league and to the fans. Leeds United, serious about automatic promotion. Farke backed, to the hilt or thereabouts. No excuses. Onward to the promised land.

A deadline day social media poll conducted by this correspondent as a bellwether attracted more than 14,000 respondents at last glance and pointed to a divided fanbase. Forty per cent feel Leeds' window has been acceptable. Forty per cent are underwhelmed. The remainder is split, almost 50:50 between those believing it to have been a good window and those with the opposing view. The silent majority, as ever, will be drowned out by the more dramatic elements but there are a lot of people in need of convincing that Leeds have got their thinking right, this summer.

This is a new squad now and a new starting XI. The talent and on-field, big-moment leadership lost will be difficult to replicate for this new-look XI, some of whom will need to adapt to English football first and foremost. It can certainly be described as one of the best in the division and it might be enough, when sculpted by Farke into what he needs and wants. Few, if any, are using words like disaster after the last four arrivals because boxes were ticked and the profile of the midfield has been upgraded from solid sensible ball retention to offensive-minded possibility. This is a squad that should and will be competitive, and more. They were far too good for Sheffield Wednesday even without the new quartet. But the season is long. Injuries will come. Form will fluctuate. And thoughts will, inevitably, at some point return to this summer and whether a number 10 would have made the difference.

The signings they have made need little explanation, as individual cases though. Alex Cairns is an insurance addition for the goalkeeping department and a great character to introduce to a changing room light on veterans. Jayden Bogle's defensive wrinkles will need ironing out but going forward he is a threat that mirrors the one posed by Junior Firpo on the far side. Joe Rodon spoke for himself last season. Tanaka could be the bargain of the summer. Ramazani has serious potential. Solomon has serious quality. Schmidt could be the cover they need at full-back and one to develop for the post-Firpo era. Joe Rothwell is competition at eight and could help later on in tight games.

The signing they did not make, in a position that was absolutely pivotal to Farke's football last season, is where the questions lie for the decision makers. It may well be that Farke is content to do what he did with Rutter and turn one of Willy Gnonto, Brenden Aaronson, Ramazani or Solomon into his 10. Rutter grew into the role steadily last season but eventually played it so beautifully that it dawned on everyone just how key his mobility, skill and passing ability were in the centre of the pitch. Someone will need to do what he did again. There is no doubt chance-creation machine Hamer could have. What's more, taking him away from Bramall Lane would have simultaneously strengthened Leeds and weakened a promotion rival. A double-edged sword. Leeds bid their valuation and that was not sufficient to prise from Chris Wilder's stony grip. They moved on, contenting themselves with the weapons already at hand.

Farke has, as he does, faced the music on the owners' behalf since pre-season began. Throughout the painful departures of star players with release clauses and a summer narrative that so swiftly changed from a position of strength and an ability to dictate terms to one of helplessly waving goodbye to a key trio. He is well placed to do the talking too, because since his appointment he has been central to Leeds' decisions, the ones that were theirs to make at least.

You can well imagine him, the man who insisted on being called manager, holding similar 'exacting standards' to Bielsa - the ones Kinnear said made buying for the Argentine a challenge in January 2023. And though so much of what Farke has said has been complimentary of everyone involved in the recruitment process, his revelation that he warned them to prepare for Rutter and Summerville's exits in January will be a point worth returning to when someone else steps up to the microphones.

The lack of exclamation mark on the recruitment team's summer body of work will need addressing in words, because that is where supporters' curiosity and frustration most heavily lies. But Leeds wanted four and got four. They hoped for a fifth and it eluded them, likely for various reasons, but reasons unknown. Will it matter? Will this squad be enough? Ultimately results will tell us all but as one window closes, 49ers Enterprises can now open another into their thinking.