Leeds United take on Manchester United in their first pre-season friendly this Wednesday, kicking off the Daniel Farke era at the club.
Ironically, Leeds’ first fixture since being relegated from the Premier League is actually a battle against fierce top-flight rivals Manchester United.
Erik ten Hag’s side come into this fixture looking to build momentum for a better title push than they mustered last season, being bested by their treble-winning city rivals.
Meanwhile, Daniel Farke will be using this game as a means to begin instilling his philosophy on the squad, likely calling upon those that have been present for pre-season from day one.
Here, we look at two players that Farke has to be looking at starting in this ‘friendly’ outing…
Georginio Rutter
The most obvious player that fans will be wanting to get a glimpse of in the new regime is Frenchman Georginio Rutter.
He arrived at Leeds in tough circumstances, with a £36million price tag on his head and a line of managers not willing to give him chance to showcase why the club committed so much money to signing him.
A Championship promotion push this season will be built around players of his quality, and this is the first chance we have to see what he might be like under Farke.
His dribbling was a nightmare for a lot of Premier League defences when he came off the bench last season, so you can only imagine how he’d do at full tilt in the EFL.
Cody Drameh
Possibly playing down the same channel as Rutter at right-back could be Cody Drameh, who is more than due an opportunity to impress.
Drameh has been subject to two loan moves in the Championship in the last two seasons and passed both tests with flying colours and Cardiff and then Luton.
Farke’s system needs immense energy coming from both full-backs, and with Drameh, Leeds have bundles of that.
While there is still speculation rife about his future, he’s a player that Leeds and Farke should be fighting hard to convince to stay, starting with giving him this chance on Wednesday.
