£12m wasted: Farke must Bin Leeds man who earns more than Gnonto

Leeds United lost several of their key players during the summer transfer window after they failed to secure promotion to the Premier League last season.

Daniel Farke led his side to a third-place finish in the Championship before losing 1-0 to Southampton in the play-off final at Wembley in May.

Their failure to return to the top-flight caused a number of stars to pursue exits from Elland Road, rather than staying and playing second division football for another year.

Archie Gray, Glen Kamara, Crysencio Summerville, and Georginio Rutter all moved on, as Tottenham Hotspur, Rennes, West Ham United, and Brighton & Hove Albion swooped in to sign them on permanent deals.

Farke will now be plotting to secure promotion from the Championship this season, in order to avoid losing any more of his key players in the summer transfer window next year.

His side are currently sixth in the division and have only lost one of their opening six games in the league, winning three and drawing two of the other five.

One player the German manager may be hoping to keep hold of moving forward is Italian whiz Wilfried Gnonto, who remained at Elland Road after the likes of Rutter and Summerville left.

Why Leeds should want to keep Gnonto

During the summer, it was reported that Leeds would have been willing to accept an offer of around £25m to £30m for the 20-year-old starlet, amid interest from Premier League side Everton.

Ultimately, however, the former Inter prospect did not secure a move away from the club and, after the summer transfer window slammed shut, Gnonto put pen to paper on a new four-year contract with the Whites – taking him through to the end of the 2027/28 campaign.

That came just over a year on from when the winger handed in a transfer request in an attempt to force through a move to Goodison Park in 2023. Leeds had rejected four offers from the Toffees, including one worth £25m, and the youngster made himself unavailable for games against Shrewsbury and Birmingham to push through a deal, with no success.

The £30k-per-week star has been an impressive performer at Championship level over the last 12 months or so, since that incident, and has now emerged as a key player for Farke.

He has started the current campaign with a return of one goal and zero assists in six league matches. However, his teammates have failed to score from the two ‘big chances’ created by the forward, which suggests that he is unfortunate not to have registered an assist so far.

Whilst Farke should be wanting to keep hold of Gnonto, due to his impressive quality at the top end of the pitch, there is one player at the club, out on loan, who must finally be ditched – Rasmus Kristensen.

Latest on Rasmus Kristensen’s future

According to Fussball News, Eintracht Frankfurt are already working on the possibility of signing the Danish defender on a permanent deal after his strong start to his loan spell with the German side.

Head coach Dino Toppmöller has already confirmed that sporting director Markus Krösche has “recognised” the manager’s desire to keep hold of the former RB Salzburg man beyond his current loan.

The report adds that the Bundesliga outfit have an option to make his loan permanent for a fee of €13m (£10m) but are looking to negotiate a lower fee.

It states that Frankfurt believe that his contract situation, with his deal expiring in the summer of 2026, would allow them to secure his services for less than £10m, as the Whites would run the risk of losing him for nothing if they do not cash in on him in one of the next two transfer windows.

Farke and Leeds must now take advantage of Frankfurt’s desire to sign Kristensen by finally ditching him from the squad, either in the January window or next summer, because he has rinsed the club since his move to Elland Road in 2022.

Rasmus Kristensen’s Leeds nightmare

In the summer of 2022, Jesse Marsch swooped to sign the right-back from his former club RB Salzburg for a reported fee of £10m to bolster his defensive options.

Kristensen earned around £39k-per-week in his first year with the Whites, earning roughly £2m in total for the season, and that means that he earns £9k more per week than Gnonto.

Unlike Gnonto, however, the Danish dud was not a key player for the club in the Premier League during the 2022/23 campaign, as he struggled in the top-flight.


Leeds were relegated from the Premier League that season, as Kristensen struggled badly, and the defender opted to sign for Roma on a season-long loan, instead of staying for the fight in the Championship.

The Denmark international started 19 games in the Serie A and only helped his team to keep one clean sheet in 29 appearances in total, before joining Frankfurt on loan this season.

Kristensen has already played a part in one clean sheet in four starts for the German side in the Bundesliga, and has won an eye-catching 78% of his aerial duels in the division.

The Leeds dud, who earns more than Gnonto, should now finally be ditched by Farke at the earliest available opportunity, as he struggled badly in the Premier League and has not shown enough in his loan spells to suggest that the Whites should be desperate to bring him back to Elland Road.

They have already wasted £12m down the drain on the full-back, with the £10m fee and at least £2m in wages spent, and should look to recoup as much of that as possible from Frankfurt.