Two future Leeds United captains, hoarse pleas for game time and six players Farke must build around

Through what is expected to be another busy summer transfer window for Leeds United, there is a core of players Daniel Farke needs to build his long-term plans around. The failure to win promotion from the Championship will raise more awkward conversations with some players perhaps unwilling to go again in England’s second tier.

At 22 and 20 respectively, Crysencio Summerville and Wilfried Gnonto are the kind of talents that should be built around by a manager developing a group en masse. However, with speculation likely to surround them until August 30 or until they do, predictably, move on, they are not core players Farke can build his project on.

Ethan Ampadu has already emerged as the bedrock you can see Farke building this incarnation of Leeds around. The 23-year-old didn’t miss a beat last season, rarely made mistakes, spoke maturely, led the team through its best run of the season and can play convincingly in two roles.

READ MORE: Why Leeds United haven’t announced their first transfer signing of the summer yet

Ampadu also jumps out as a player who is both young enough and with potential enough to go the distance with Farke as Leeds, hopefully, go forward under 49ers Enterprises. The Wales international can, feasibly, keep pace with the progress the hierarchy and manager want to make up the ladder.

The former Exeter City youth would arguably be the club’s next captain if Liam Cooper moves on this summer, but Pascal Struijk, returning to action in pre-season, was first in line last term. The Dutch defender was just as integral to Farke’s plans until injury ended his season at the turn of the year.

At his best, Struijk has shown he has enough in the tank to be reliable in the Leeds defence for a few more years. Questions may be asked back in the top flight, but he is a solid figure in the dressing room Farke should be building around for now.

Georginio Rutter has the talent and price tag to suggest clubs may come calling while he is in the Championship, but it’s hard to see how an exit makes sense at this point. The 22-year-old was unplayable at his best last season, but faded badly after his hernia surgery and lost all momentum long before the campaign had even ended.

That end to the season and inability to hit the net throughout the year will leave some question marks lingering with prospective suitors. Then there is the small matter of the investment Leeds made when they bought him last year, which requires an enormous fee from a new club to stop it from blowing apart United’s profitability and sustainability picture.

Rutter cut a happy figure last season and has given nobody any reason to believe he would want to jump ship this summer. Like Ampadu, he has the talent to suggest he can improve and develop at the same pace as Leeds, so Farke must keep him in his first-choice attack.

Archie Gray will, almost certainly, attract bids this summer. Eighteen-year-olds are not allowed to play that well, that consistently, outside one of the big five leagues and avoid detection.

Paraag Marathe would have been foolish to guarantee the teenager will not be sold this summer, but he knows how it would go down and Gray, led by his family, must see sense in continuing what he started last season. Gray is the definition of a footballer any club should look to build itself around.

Chatter around Borussia Dortmund’s interest in Ilia Gruev, a matter of hours after they lost the highest-profile match in club football, drew quizzical looks at Elland Road. The Bulgarian proved to be a shrewd piece of business last season, but a move to 2024’s second-best club in Europe seems a stretch.

Every player has their price, but Gruev has the age and 2024 performances to justify being one of Farke’s core players going into next season. The faith the German showed in giving Gruev that leap into English football will hopefully ensure a longer future at Elland Road.

By the end of last season, many fans were going hoarse with their pleas for Mateo Joseph to be given more game time. Farke held back and did not bow to those demands, preferring the experience of Joel Piroe and Patrick Bamford.

With the new season will come, Joseph hopes, more meaningful game time, especially in the Championship. Promotion may have justifiably kept Joseph on the back burner for a little longer, but the Spaniard will hope to earn that chance to be the first man off the bench in the second tier.

Even if he does not emerge as Farke’s first-choice striker from the get-go, at 20, with the goals he has scored in limited pitch time, Joseph has to be a key part of the club’s future plans. As he grows stronger, gains experience and develops his game, Joseph has the ability to be a real force in white throughout the rest of this decade.