Daniel Farke will take to the dugout as Leeds United boss for the first time on Wednesday afternoon as the Whites face Manchester United in their first pre-season friendly.
The German is expected to name a line-up much-changed from the one which finished Leeds’ final Premier League fixture of last season, which saw the team relegated from the top flight after a nine-game winless streak.
Joel Robles and Adam Forshaw both started that day, as Sam Allardyce’s brief stint as manager came to an end. Both players have been released by Leeds and will play no part in Wednesday’s friendly. Also absent from the squad for Leeds’ first non-competitive encounter of 2023/24 is attacking trio Rodrigo Moreno, Crysencio Summerville and Willy Gnonto. All three have been involved at senior or youth international level for their countries this summer and have been granted additional leave before returning to pre-season training.
Brenden Aaronson and Robin Koch both featured against Spurs on the final day but have already sealed season-long loan moves to the Bundesliga with Union Berlin and Eintracht Frankfurt, respectively.
Instead, the likes of Archie Gray, Mateo Joseph, Darko Gyabi and Sonny Perkins will make up the squad, all of whom were pictured modelling the team’s new home kit before the group travelled over to Norway on Tuesday.
Returning loanee Jamie Shackleton is also expected to feature following his one-year spell at Millwall throughout 2022/23. Meanwhile, Junior Firpo is understood to have made the trip across the North Sea. Marc Roca is an unknown for the Man United friendly owing to reported interest in a loan move to Real Betis, which is yet to be finalised.
Max Wober and Rasmus Kristensen returned to pre-season on Monday, July 10 therefore could play a part on Wednesday evening but are unlikely to start. Question marks remain over Tyler Adams, Luis Sinisterra and Jack Harrison’s involvement, all of whom are currently injured.
Leeds have failed to beat Man United in each of their last seven competitive meetings; eight including the 4-0 friendly defeat in Australia four summers ago.
The game is scheduled to kick off at 5pm local time (4pm BST) at Oslo’s Ullevaal Stadium.
