2 players who could follow Joe Gelhardt out of Leeds United in 2025 | OneFootball

FLW outline two players that could follow Joe Gelhardt out of the exit door at Leeds United in 2025.

Leeds United and Daniel Farke will know how crucial the upcoming January window can be in defining their campaign, but player exits could make space for incomings as well.

The club have plenty of ambition but will need to match that this month, with the Whites aiming to restore the club’s Premier League status after a disappointing end to last season that culminated in a play-off final defeat. Promotion to the Premier League is the priority for Leeds after finishing third in the Championship with an impressive 90 points last season.

After that saw them narrowly miss out on automatic promotion, squad overhaul was then inevitable. However, the Whites are looking to go one better in 2024/25 and still maintained a strong squad with impressive signings in the summer. They will be identifying the January transfer window as a strong opportunity to source additional quality and depth.

They cannot afford to be totally inactive in the market and will know the importance of getting things right this time around. It could be pivotal in shaping the second half of the campaign, and recruitment discussions and plans will be going on all the time behind the scenes.

One player that is on the way out is Joe Gelhardt, who is moving from West to East Yorkshire in search of more regular first-team opportunities. Hull City are said to be fronting the queue of sides for his signature, ahead of the likes of QPR, Preston North End, Stoke City, Plymouth Argyle, and Rangers.

He won't be the last player to depart in 2025 as a whole, even if he is one of the only departures this month. Here, we take a look at TWO other players that are likely to exit Elland Road this year.

Max Wober

For now, Max Wöber has been reintegrated into Farke's plans at Leeds, but his game time will also be vital between now and the end of the season in seeing where his future beyond just the remainder of the 2024/25 campaign. His situation has not been helped by injury issues at the start of this season.

There is still every chance that he leaves the club should they receive a viable transfer offer this winter, but especially so this summer. None have been forthcoming so far, but even without regular football, Wöber should be a saleable asset for Leeds.

There is every chance he will grow unhappy at his lack of regular football, and may well be looking for a way out of West Yorkshire by the time the summer rolls around, but even if an offer was made this month as well. Many players are happy to fill out a squad and feature sporadically, but a full Austrian international during the peak-years of his career does not fit that criteria.

The question then becomes one of whether he is happy to be a bit-part player and not a part of Leeds' best XI, which it's hard to argue that Wöber is currently, and his lengthy injury lay-off won't have helped his chances, either. Joe Rodon and Pascal Struijk are likely to remain as such this season, and there is every chance that partnership remains the same in 2025/26 as well.

Junior Firpo

For Farke, Junior Firpo is the only specialist left-back at Elland Road, which makes his presence in the team even more valuable. There are no direct replacements for him in the current squad, meaning Leeds are heavily reliant on his availability.

The left-back has had a mixed time at Elland Road since his arrival in the summer of 2021, when the Whites were a Premier League club. However, he has played arguably his best football in a Leeds shirt over the last two seasons in the second tier.

One concern for Leeds is Firpo's injury record. While he has enjoyed a largely injury-free 2024, this has not been the case for the majority of his time at the club. His persistent injury troubles in previous campaigns have raised doubts about his long-term reliability.

His recent injury has disrupted his campaign, and his days could be numbered at Elland Road, with this summer perhaps being the ideal time for a parting of ways for both club and player, as both can look for a fresh start and opportunity elsewhere in Firpo's case and in a different direction with a younger and more available player in Leeds' case.

Currently, he is due to leave the club at the end of his deal, which is due to expire in the summer of 2025, and he has stated in the past that he wants to know the Whites' ambitions before putting pen to paper on fresh terms. Failure to cash in on the left-back during 2024 means Leeds are at risk of losing him for nothing in the summer of 2025 due to his expiring contract, or indeed in January through a pre-contract agreement elsewhere.