"The obvious solution" - Leeds United: 49ers & Daniel Farke urged to source Georginio Rutter replacement | OneFootball

FLW's resident Leeds United fan pundit revealed his concern ahead of the January transfer window

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Leeds United have been urged to add another attacking midfielder to their ranks in the January transfer window, although sourcing the perfect signing could prove difficult.

The Whites have laid bare their promotion credentials in the Championship, losing just two of their opening 15 encounters to go within two points of league leaders Sunderland heading into November's international break.

As ever, there have been peaks and troughs for Daniel Farke's side, although they've put together an encouraging run of form of late despite having to contend with an unprecedented midfield crisis, losing both Ethan Ampadu and Ilia Gruev to respective long-term injuries days apart.

But the midfield issues are not strictly limited to reshaping their deep-lying double pivot either, with the lack of an out-and-out creative midfielder also a central concern that may need to be addressed in the January transfer window.

Leeds United failed to replace Georginio Rutter in the summer transfer window

Following May's excruciating play-off final defeat to Southampton, which denied Leeds of an immediate return to the Premier League and entered them into their second - and reduced - year of parachute payments, they were left susceptible to losing some of their prized assets and that's exactly what happened, as the likes of Glen Kamara, Archie Gray, Crysencio Summerville and Georginio Rutter all earned top-flight moves.

Replacing the latter three in particular was always going to prove a tall order. They ultimately failed to source a replacement for Rutter, who joined Brighton and Hove Albion after his £40 million release clause was activated by the south coast outfit, despite a range of ambitious late attempts.

As revealed by Whites CEO Angus Kinnear, Leeds plotted unsuccessful moves for both Fabio Carvalho and James McAtee, while former Norwich City star Emiliano Buendia was also subjected to interest from Elland Road, and they saw a bid rejected for Sheffield United's Gus Hamer too.

In the absence of Rutter, who lit up the Championship last season, Brenden Aaronson has stepped in against all odds, making inroads to redeeming his career in West Yorkshire.

The USA international, however, represents a significant stylistic contrast to Rutter, and bringing in a more similar profile has been stressed as a priority for January.

Leeds United urged to sign an attacking midfielder in January

We asked our resident Whites fan pundit, Kris Smith, to name one concern he holds ahead of the January window, which will commence in under two months' time.

Kris is not worried about losing players in January, but he is concerned about whether Leeds will take action on the attacking midfield issue, expressing doubt about his side doing so unless they identify the "perfect answer" to their problems.

"I don't really have any worries about Leeds losing any players in the January window, so any concerns that I have with how that month is going to go is about Leeds actually signing the players we need," Kris explained to Football League World.

"I think the priority has to be signing a number 10, that's the obvious solution Leeds need in the new year.

"We've got to find someone who's not only good enough but of the right profile as well, and that's a huge test.

"We've got Brenden Aaronson, who is a good enough number 10 for us in this promotion race, but he's not the right profile we need in terms of a creative midfielder.

"I do expect that a loan from the Premier League would be the way that we'd go, but to me there isn't a huge deal of players that'll be available and would fit the bill for us.

"I think the problem we have is that we cannot go through this window without that signing, we stumbled through January last year and we have done in previous years, even in the Premier League.