Daniel Farke should name an unchanged starting XI as Leeds United host Burnley on Saturday (14 September), says Beren Cross.
The Leeds Live journalist expects [13 September] the Whites boss to stick with the same line-up at Elland Road as the one that started the 2-0 win over Hull City before the international break.
As a result, multi-million-pound signings Ao Tanaka and Largie Ramazani would again be left out, as they made cameo debuts a fortnight ago.
Cross reasoned: “Ao Tanaka and Largie Ramazani will have designs on starting for the Whites sooner rather than later, but it is sensible to bed them in slowly while their team-mates are doing well in their best positions.”
Leeds United set to make exciting pair wait to start
The common view on Leeds United is that while they operate with the smallest squad in the Championship, they also arguably have the most quality among that more compact pool of players.
The signings of Tanaka and Ramazani came late in the window, alongside Manor Solomon – who has come straight in to make an immediate impact and will almost certainly start on Saturday – and Isaac Schmidt.
It gives Farke a little more room for manoeuvre despite Dan James’ four-week absence being confirmed, as a difficult window to endure concluded on a positive note – supplemented in no small part by Willy Gnonto’s new long-term contract.
Ramazani was brought in for a fee worth up to £10m from Almeria, whilst established Japanese international Tanaka has been viewed in some quarters as a long-term upgrade on Ilia Gruev.
It appears likely the two will get plenty of football, but with defence appearing to be the lightest area for Leeds’ selection, the players will have to bide their time as options emerge for Farke elsewhere on the pitch.
Leave a Reply