Football League World
·14 September 2024
Football League World
·14 September 2024
FLW outline the players who are out of contract or that will see their loan deals expire at Leeds United in 2025.
Leeds United had to navigate a difficult transfer window but ended it well with eight new faces through the door at Elland Road and the Whites will be looking to go one better than last season under Daniel Farke and gain promotion.
He will hope that, after losing key personnel, Leeds will still have the required depth, quality, and output in their ranks to mount another promotion push. Archie Gray, Glen Kamara, Georginio Rutter, and Crysencio Summerville have all left the club as vital pieces of last year's team.
In part, that was necessary, with parachute payments halved in their second year, and reports emerging earlier in the summer that they may have to generate around £100 million in transfer fees to help balance the books, meaning that they have been in need of some sales.
Joe Rodon, Alex Cairns, Joe Rothwell, and Jayden Bogle were signed early on in the window, but there was a long gap between those signing and Leeds' final four additions, which had some fans concerned up until the deadline.
They ended the last week of the window well with four further signings, with Manor Solomon, Largie Ramazani, Ao Tanaka, and Isaac Schmidt bolstering their ranks to hopefully give Farke the required reinforcements before the transfer window came to a close.
The objective, as always, for Leeds this season is to gain promotion to the Premier League, and there will be real disappointment if the club fail to do so this time around. However, there are also a handful of players also entering the final year of their current deal this summer, too.
They may well be a part of their challenge for automatic promotion again this season but January could be the last chance to cash in on those players, or they otherwise need to be sat down to discuss the possibility of extending their stay at Elland Road further.
In the meantime, with a big season ahead for Farke and the Leeds hierarchy, here we have taken a look at the players who will see their contracts expire come the end of the season in June 2025, as per Transfermarkt.
The Athletic reported earlier last season that Leeds were not planning to offer Junior Firpo a new contract. It has also been claimed that the Whites would be willing to listen to offers for Firpo in the summer but he has since proven to be a key member of the side in the latter stages of the 2023/24 campaign.
Leeds are at risk of losing the left-back for nothing in the summer of 2025 due to his expiring contract, which sees him amongst the top earners at Elland Road — unsurprising, given that he came from Barcelona.
The 28-year-old has given them food for thought at the back end of the season and start of this year – becoming one of the club's most consistent and reliable performers since the turn of the year.
While he has never been the strongest in general defensive situations, Firpo has enormous upside in possession and has the ability to contribute to the Leeds attack consistently down the left-hand side. He will overlap to hold width, partially as he is the only out-and-out left-footed full-back at the club.
It was always clear that he had the talent in possession, and if Firpo could avoid the injuries that had so far blighted his Leeds career, then the club had a solution to their left-back problem. He has been one of their best players in 2024 and could possibly extend his current deal further.
Sam Byram re-signed for Leeds last summer following the club’s relegation to the Championship. The full-back had initially left the Whites back in 2016 to join West Ham, before ending up at Norwich City in 2019. A one-year deal was agreed for the 30-year-old to make his return to West Yorkshire, with an automatic trigger if he surpassed a certain number of games.
The club have already said farewell to plenty of full-backs as it stands, but one who remained after he surpassed the expectations of many is Byram, who has been a consistent and reliable performer at right or left-back. He switched between the two over the course of the season, having to fill in for Firpo during the first half of the campaign, and that has seen him meet the clause in his deal to remain for another year.
The jury remains out on how long Leeds will retain him for due to a poor injury record at this stage, but if Byram can stay fit enough again, then he has previously proved an impressive operator at this level and could well receive a further extension if he continues on his current trajectory, irrespective of which league Leeds are in next year.
With the 30-year-old impressing in both full-back positions, and providing Farke with that versatility, he could warrant a further extension. However, his place in the pecking order has also dropped after other signings like Bogle and Schmidt. Perhaps the Whites will look for younger, less injury-prone options at full-back instead for 2025/26.
Joe Rothwell's place in the pecking order at Leeds looks to have already taken a hit after the signing of Tanaka to join Ethan Ampadu and Ilia Gruev as Daniel Farke's options at the base of midfield. That's after he headed out on loan again to gain further game time and to hopefully get two promotions in as many seasons from the second tier.
He won promotion with Southampton but will again spend the season in the Championship after he became their third summer signing back in July. Leeds were fairly slow starters when it came to incoming business this summer, but Rothwell is one of the players who has been at the club the longest out of their newest additions.
He was deemed surplus to requirements at AFC Bournemouth, having signed for them after promotion in 2022 under Scott Parker from Blackburn Rovers. He instead gives Farke a blend of different options and profiles in his double-pivot, with two more advanced 'No.8' options, and two sitting 'No.6' options.
In that sense, he is an astute addition with the right attitude on paper and provides depth to ensure the Whites have the stamina to go the distance in the title race. The season-long loan also comes with an option-to-buy for Leeds, according to Adam Pope and others, despite contrasting reports. It sees him secure his immediate future, having been on the fringes at Bournemouth since leaving Blackburn, but exactly how much regular game time he receives at Elland Road is yet to be seen.
25-year-old winger Manor Solomon has joined Leeds on a season-long loan move from Spurs, in order to gain some valuable game time after suffering from a long-term meniscus injury that cut his campaign short last season.
Solomon only managed five Premier League appearances last year before picking up his injury, but he certainly showed glimpses of real talent in that short spell. Leeds have already seen it as well, with Solomon making a darting run towards the byline on his debut against Hull City before delivering a pinpoint cross to Mateo Joseph, who opened the scoring.
Solomon is a very talented player who has represented some big clubs during his career and, with that, has been able to compete in some major competitions, including scoring goals in the Champions League during his time at Shakhtar Donetsk. If his assist on debut for Leeds is anything to go, the wide forward is going to be a serious attacking threat, which is needed after the departure of Summerville.
Solomon should realistically be playing Premier League football, so Leeds keeping him fit could see the Whites push for promotion out of the Championship again this term. They need someone to step up and be just as effective as the likes of Summerville and Rutter, who were Farke's main difference-makers for a moment of inspiration last season.