Daniel Farke given brutally honest update on new Leeds contract as 49s chief risks major backlash | OneFootball

Leeds United boss Daniel Farke has been told that the club currently have no plans to offer him a new deal, with a club director opening up on the future of the German and with fans seemingly agitated at the manager’s stubbornness following Tuesday’s frustrating defeat to Sunderland.

The Whites have endured a topsy-turvy season back in the Premier League with Farke surviving the threat of the sack by the skin of his teeth in the autumn and with a change of system that appeared to supercharge the club’s fortunes.

But while Leeds United enjoyed a sparkling run of form that saw them lose just twice in 15 matches across all competitions, that run did contain a few too many draws and, subsequently, the club are now on a run of just two wins in 11 games. Worse yet, successive 1-0 home defeats to Manchester City and Sunderland – the latter a truly bitter pill to swallow given the manner of the visitors’ tactics – has left Leeds nervously looking over their shoulders once again.

As it stands, Farke currently has around 16 months left to run on his contract at Elland Road. And with speculation over the manager’s future starting to gather pace once again, club director Peter Lowry has provided an update on the German’s future, insisting that all talks on a new deal are off the table while the club remain embroiled in a relegation battle and are to still to secure their future.

“We have not yet stayed in the Premier League”, Lowy told BBC Radio Leeds podcast Don’t Go To Bed Yet.

“We are not yet secured, and so we’re not talking about it. It’s like the same thing that last year really bugged me.

“We were on a run-in to win the league or to win the Championship, and everyone’s talking about whether Daniel should be the manager next year or not.

“To talk about Daniel’s contract now is just not on the table. Not for him and not for us. We have one goal.”

Daniel Farke: Leeds director talks up German coach

Lowry’s comments, though, should not be taken as an assumption the club are looking at this moment in time to replace their manager; more in line with the club simply wanting to focus on their survival goal and not let anything distract from their mission.

That statement also reflects what our correspondent, Fraser Fletcher, had to say on the German’s future back in October when sources revealed the club were taking a patient approach to prospective new deal talks and instead allowing Farke to focus on the matter in hand: Leeds’ survival bid.

Should Leeds stay up – and they remain on course to do so with nine games remaining – then Farke, should he stay on, can expect around a £100m transfer kitty to reinvest in his squad next summer.

Sources have already made clear his three major targets when the window opens for business.

In the meantime, Lowry has also praised Farke for his man-management ability, together with the club’s ability to get the best out of certain players – Dominic Calvert-Lewin being the prime example – who other clubs had seemingly rejected.

“The club has this skill set and the ability to pick out players other clubs don’t see and help bring them back to the player they were.”

Lowry added: “Daniel has an incredible man-management ability.

“The team we have saw Calvert-Lewin’s ability. When we talked about it, we thought the risk was minimal and the upside was huge.”

Leeds fans raging at Sunderland loss; Morocco star linked

Despite the delay on talks over Farke’s future, the German, generally speaking, does have a good rapport with Leeds fans.

He led the club to a record-breaking 100-point haul on their way to the Championship title last season and his generally well-liked and appreciated by the fanbase.

However, there are occasional murmurings of discontent, particularly on social media, and the manager did come under serious fire on Tuesday evening for his tactics and in-game management following the horrible 1-0 defeat to the Black Cats.

Picking out his faults for the defeat, fans drew five major conclusions and hit out at why their malaise could yet lead to relegation.

Elsewhere, while we can confirm that Leeds will make a big push to sign a new goalkeeper this summer, their interest in James Trafford –exclusively first confirmed by TEAMtalk back on February 5 – looks to have suffered a setback after a Premier League rival overtook them as leading suitors for his signature.

In other news, the Whites themselves are being linked with a Moroccan international left-back as they look to provide cover and competition for the impressive Gabriel Gudmundsson.