Leeds United lost in the final of the play-offs at Wembley in May as they failed to secure a return to the Premier League at the first time of asking.
Their failure to earn promotion out of the Championship left them vulnerable to approaches from top-flight teams to snap up their best talent ahead of next season.
Aston Villa and PSG have both been linked with interest in £40m-rated Crysencio Summerville and the Whites have rejected a £30m offer from Brighton for attacking midfielder Georginio Rutter.
The West Yorkshire side have already lost one of their key players from the 2023/24 campaign as Archie Gray recently completed his exit from Elland Road.
Premier League outfit Tottenham Hotspur swooped in to secure a reported £40m deal for the versatile star, whilst Joe Rodon came the other way for £10m on a permanent transfer after his loan spell last term.
Daniel Farke now has less than two months before the summer transfer window slams shut to ease the blow of losing Gray from his squad, as the teenage talent was an important member of his team.
Why losing Archie Gray is a big blow for Leeds
Firstly, selling the England U21 international at the age of 18 means that the club will not benefit, on the pitch, from his development over the years to come.
Gray could improve and become a significantly better player with more experience, particularly in the Premier League, over the years to come and Leeds will not get a first-hand view of that development.
If they had managed to keep hold of him, the Whites could have helped him to take further steps and then increased his value beyond the £40m they did rake in for his services.
His exit is also a blow as Farke has now lost his first-choice right-back from last season and there is no immediate alternative available, following Jamie Shackleton and Luke Ayling's departures as free agents.
Gray had not made a single first-team appearance for the club heading into the 2023/24 campaign and was handed a big show of faith by Farke, who brought him into the senior team and gave him plenty of chances to shine.
The 18-year-old starlet went on to amass a whopping 52 appearances in all competitions for Leeds in his first, and only, year in the first-team.
Appearances
44
Starts
40
Assists
2
Tackles + interceptions per game
2.8
Duel success rate
55%
As you can see in the table above, Gray stepped up to Championship level and became a regular starter, with 40 starts in 46 regular season games, and more than held his own in physical duels.
This illustrates how important it is for Leeds to ensure that they get the right replacement in for him as they need to bring in a player who can be trusted to start week-in-week-out as part of a team pushing to secure promotion out of the second tier.
Farke could now ease the blow of losing Gray to Spurs by securing a deal to sign a star who sent the second half of last season on loan at Elland Road.
Leeds United's interest in former loan ace
The Athletic reported last month that the Whites are eyeing up a possible swoop to bring right-back Connor Roberts back for a permanent spell in Yorkshire.
He joined on loan from Burnley in the winter window at the start of this year and played a back-up role to Gray during the run-in, but could thrive as the first-choice in his position as a permanent Leeds player next term.
However, it remains to be seen what Scott Parker's plans are for the £30k-per-week defender, after he was officially appointed as the Clarets' new boss last week.
Yorkshire Evening Press' Graham Smyth claimed that Burnley would "jump" at the chance to cash in on the Wales international but Parker has not been in the building long and may have a say on the full-back's future.
If a deal is possible for Leeds, though, they should press ahead and attempt to bring him back to Elland Road on a permanent basis to ease the blow of losing Gray.
Why Leeds should sign Connor Roberts
Farke should swoop to sign the defender because his experience as a promotion-winning defender in the Championship is valuable and he has the quality to potentially be an upgrade on the Spurs signing, as a right-back in the immediate future.
As an 18-year-old, who is a central midfielder by nature, with a £40m price tag on his head, Gray appears to have a brighter future than Roberts, but that does not mean that the Welshman can not offer more to the club in the here and now.
The 28-year-old star, who is in the prime of his career, was a key player for Vincent Kompany, now manager of Bayern Munich, during Burnley's title success in the 2022/23 campaign.
Appearances
43
44
Goals
4
0
Assists
6
2
Ground duel success rate
59%
57%
Aerial duel success rate
47%
43%
As you can see in the table above, the Clarets battler appeared to offer more than Gray did last season in and out of possession in their title-winning term.
Roberts, who journalist Beren Cross claimed "loves a scrap", won a higher percentage of his duels on the deck and in the air, whilst also providing far more as an attacking force down the flank.
The Leeds target also ranked within the top 1% of full-backs in the division in the 2022/23 campaign for progressive passes with 7.37 per 90, 3.22 more per 90 than Gray produced (4.15) in the Championship last term.
This suggests that the flying right-back is an excellent passer of the ball due to his ability to constantly progress play and find teammates in dangerous positions, more frequently than the £40m sensation did in a Leeds shirt.
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Therefore, signing Roberts to be the first-choice right-back for the club next season could be a brilliant move by Farke to ease the blow of losing Gray, at least in the immediate future, due to his potential to be an upgrade in the right-back position.