The window has slammed shut, seven new faces have walked through the door and for the first time since May, Daniel Farke can look at a whiteboard that is not going to change. So what is the Leeds United best XI now that the summer is over? With four points on the board, an unbeaten start in all competitions and roughly £86m of business behind them, the Whites head into the international break with a squad that finally looks built for a Premier League season rather than patched together for one.
Leeds United’s best XI after seven summer signings
Farke has leaned on a 4-2-3-1 throughout the opening weeks, and there is no obvious reason for him to abandon it. On the evidence of the first two league games — a 1-0 win at Nottingham Forest and a 1-1 draw with Brentford at Elland Road — this is the side that looks strongest on paper:
Trafford; Bogle, Bijol, Rodon, Gudmundsson; Ampadu, Stach; Wilson, Aaronson, James; Calvert-Lewin.
That is a team with a spine of proven top-flight bodies, which was precisely the brief. The Yorkshire Evening Post reached a similar conclusion when it ran through the post-deadline permutations, and the reason is simple enough: Leeds have not signed squad filler this summer. They have signed starters.
Goalkeeper: James Trafford has already settled the biggest question
The £45m arrival from Manchester City was the signing that carried the most risk and the most reward. Replacing Illan Meslier — who left on a free when his contract expired in June before joining Arsenal — was never going to be a subtle piece of business, and Leeds went big. Trafford was named man of the match on his league debut at the City Ground, which is about as emphatic an answer as a new goalkeeper can give in ninety minutes.
Behind him, the depth position remains the one part of the pitch where Leeds did not spend heavily, with Karl Darlow having joined Manchester United on a free. That is a calculated gamble, but one softened by the fact Trafford was signed to play every week.
Defence: Bijol and Rodon hold, Bard adds the insurance
Jaka Bijol and Joe Rodon are the centre-back pairing Farke trusts, and Bijol himself has been bullish about the group, telling BBC Radio Leeds this week that the Whites “have a strong squad”. Rodon signed a deal to 2030 earlier in the summer; the caveat is that he came off against Brentford and a potential hamstring problem has since been reported, with no club timescale confirmed. If that keeps him out, Nico Elvedi — an £8.5m arrival from Borussia Mönchengladbach who impressed Farke on his Carabao Cup debut — steps in without the XI losing much.
At right-back, Jayden Bogle is the incumbent and, like Rodon, is tied down to 2030. The left side is where deadline day mattered. Gabriel Gudmundsson gets the shirt on current form, but the loan capture of Melvin Bard from Nice, with an option to buy, gives Leeds a genuine alternative rather than a body. Bard’s first words as a Leeds player — an “easy choice”, and a promise to “fight” — suggest a player who understood exactly what he was joining.
The other new defender, Tarik Muharemović at £34m from Sassuolo, is the summer’s most expensive outfield signing and arguably the one with the highest ceiling. He starts the season behind Bijol and Rodon in the pecking order, but a fee that size is not paid for a rotation option. Add James Justin as a versatile senior head and Leeds now carry four recognised full-backs and four recognised centre-halves — a stark contrast to the squad that lost Pascal Struijk to Brighton for £15m and released Maximilian Wöber and Sam Byram.
Midfield: Ampadu and Stach are the non-negotiables
Captain Ethan Ampadu and Anton Stach pick themselves. Stach’s free-kick won the game at Forest, which is the sort of contribution that buys a midfielder a lot of goodwill, and Ampadu’s armband settles the rest of the conversation.
What has changed is the quality queuing behind them. Ao Tanaka, Sean Longstaff and Ilia Gruev give Farke three genuinely different profiles to reach for, and in a season where Leeds are also in the Carabao Cup — a third-round tie with Chelsea awaits — that matters more than it did twelve months ago. Brenden Aaronson, who signed a new contract in August, is the one who moves between the double pivot and the number ten role depending on the opposition, and he is the most likely player to be squeezed by what came next.
The front four: where Jean-Matteo Bahoya changes the maths
The seventh and final signing was confirmed after the 11pm deadline: Jean-Matteo Bahoya from Eintracht Frankfurt. Leeds have not disclosed the terms and it would be wrong to guess at them, but the timing tells its own story — this was the piece Leeds wanted before the window shut, not an afterthought.
Bahoya arrives into a wide department that has been comprehensively rebuilt. Willy Gnonto’s exit to Fiorentina was confirmed on 1 September, Largie Ramazani joined Burnley on a season-long loan that becomes permanent next summer, and Jack Harrison left for New England Revolution. In their place: Harry Wilson, signed on a free from Fulham and already influential, plus Noah Okafor, Daniel James and now Bahoya. Leeds also rejected a reported deadline-day enquiry from Sunderland for Okafor, which tells you how they value him.
For now, Wilson and James flank Aaronson because they have done the work. Give Bahoya a month of Thorp Arch and that front line could look very different.
Centre-forward: Calvert-Lewin, with Nmecha the pressure valve
Dominic Calvert-Lewin wears the nine and scored the equaliser against Brentford, converting a Lukas Nmecha cross. That combination is instructive: Nmecha is not simply an understudy waiting for an injury, he is a forward Farke is willing to put on the pitch alongside his first-choice striker. With Joël Piroe out on loan and Joe Gelhardt sold to Hull City for £6.5m, Leeds have deliberately narrowed the striking department to two senior options and backed both.
The bench Farke can finally name
A realistic nine: Elvedi, Muharemović, Bard, Justin, Tanaka, Longstaff, Gruev, Okafor, Nmecha. Every one of those players has a credible claim to start a Premier League game, and Ditmir Hodja — signed from Rabotnicki in late August, shirt number still to be confirmed — is the developmental bet behind them.
That is the real story of this window, and it is a different story from the one Leeds have told in recent summers. You can read our full rundown of every Leeds United transfer this summer and the confirmed 2026/27 squad numbers for the full picture.
The verdict on the Leeds United best XI
Four points from two games against Forest and Brentford is a solid return, and nobody at Elland Road is pretending the season is won. But the best XI above is a top-flight team, and crucially the eleven names after it are not a drop off a cliff. Leeds spent big where it counted, took a free transfer where one was available, and used the loan market on deadline day rather than panicking.
The next test comes after the international break — with the Crystal Palace home fixture having been moved because of the opposition’s European commitments — and this time Farke will be picking from a squad he actually chose. That is the difference seven signings make.
