Unfortunately for Leeds United they just weren’t at the races in the Play-Off final and were deservedly beaten by a determined and well-drilled Southampton side.
That failure to get promoted back up to the Premier League at the first time of asking was always going to have repercussions, not least because the club will need to save on the wage bill.
Players that might perhaps have stayed at the club had they gone up will arguably be looking for a way out now, and Daniel Farke generally isn’t a manager that will stand in a player’s way.
Willy Gnonto could sign a new deal at Leeds
That said, he stood firm at the start of last season when it appeared that Willy Gnonto was doing everything in his power to engineer a move away from the club.
Farke’s refusal to be bullied by the player or his agent ultimately paid dividends, and so much so that Gnonto might well sign a new deal at the club.
“He had talks over a new deal that went unsigned. It wouldn’t massively surprise me if he signed a new deal. They can’t let everyone go. If Summerville was to go, is Gnonto the ideal replacement to come in? Arguably yes,” transfer expert Graeme Bailey said to Leeds United News.
“With Gnonto it depends who else goes. The season he has had, if you couldn’t sell him last summer, I don’t think clubs will be queuing up this summer. For him career wise, he is better off staying at Leeds and signing a new deal.
“That’s the way I see it playing out, unless one of those suitors in Italy really like him, but I don’t see Leeds taking a massively reduced fee for him. It will be hard for anyone to get him out, as proved last summer.”