The Leeds United transfer window has five days left to run, and one of the few men to have taken this club into the Champions League has a view on how they ought to be spent.
David O’Leary, who led Leeds to third in the Premier League in 1999/2000 and a Champions League semi-final the season after, has told the Yorkshire Evening Post that the Whites must “turn silver into gold” in the market if they want to climb the table — and that, as things stand, Daniel Farke’s squad is not deep enough for what is coming.
‘I think their squad is light’
O’Leary, speaking to the YEP via Betway, went straight at the bench. “I think their squad is light,” he said. “Looking at the bench, I still think they could do with a few players to add to it to survive a long Premier League season. I’m looking at Leeds now to kick on and be a lot further up the league.”
That is not a swipe at the quality of the business done. It is a point about volume, and it happens to line up with what the manager himself said this week. Farke conceded on Tuesday that there are areas of the squad still to be improved, and that Leeds are working with “limited resources” under Squad Cost Ratio rules. The YEP reports the club would still welcome additions at goalkeeper, on the left of defence, on the left wing and up front.
The Brentford model — and Brentford at Elland Road
The example O’Leary reached for will raise an eyebrow, given who is in Leeds on Sunday.
“They got great, passionate support, it’s a great club, and you’re looking for them, maybe like Brentford who have come back and established themselves to move forward,” he said. “It’s not acceptable with Leeds to say we’ve just survived and stayed up.
“There’s too many great supporters, too much of a fan base to be just a survival club. The club deserves more than that, the fans deserve more than that, and that’s the ambition that the owners should have to be pushing on every year to get back to where they belong.”
Brentford, of course, are the visitors for Leeds’ first home game of 2026/27 — a side built on recruitment margins rather than gross spend, arriving in the same week a former Leeds manager holds them up as the standard.
What the Leeds United transfer window has delivered so far
Quieter than last summer’s rebuild, but not cheap. James Trafford arrived from Manchester City for a club-record £45m, Tarik Muharemovic came in from Sassuolo for £34m, Nico Elvedi cost £8.5m from Borussia Monchengladbach and Harry Wilson joined on a free from Fulham. Ditmir Hodja was added from Rabotnicki last week. The YEP totals the outlay across the four senior arrivals at around £81m, almost half of it going on Trafford alone.
The other side of the ledger has been just as busy. Pascal Struijk left for Brighton, Joe Gelhardt joined Hull City, Jack Harrison moved to New England Revolution, Illan Meslier departed as a free agent when his contract expired in June, and Joel Piroe and Sebastiaan Bornauw went out on loan. Sell well, replace carefully — silver into gold, in O’Leary’s phrasing.
The awkward part: Leeds have started well
Farke’s side have won both games so far without conceding, beating Nottingham Forest 1-0 away on the opening weekend and then 2-0 at the City Ground in the EFL Cup three days later. Ethan Ampadu’s team sit ninth after one league match, and Trafford has looked every pound of the fee.
Which is exactly why O’Leary’s warning is worth hearing rather than dismissing. A strong opening fortnight is the easiest moment to persuade yourself the squad is finished. Leeds finished 14th last season, and the fixtures between now and May will ask the bench questions the first two games did not.
Five days remain. Our predicted Leeds United XI to face Brentford sets out the options Farke has now, while O’Leary’s own 2001 Champions League run is a reminder of what recruitment can build at Elland Road — and how quickly the bill arrives.
