Despite only being seven matches into the 2026/27 campaign, Leeds United head coach Daniel Farke may already have one eye on the January transfer window.

The winter market is an opportunity to reshape the squad ahead of the second half of the season to ensure that the Whites can kick on and achieve their goals this season.

They are unbeaten after their first five matches in the Premier League, although they did lose in their second League Cup match, and they will want to improve again in January.

In order to improve, the West Yorkshire outfit may have to move on from some of their underperforming players, as they once did with Patrick Bamford.

Why Leeds had to move on from Bamford

At the end of August 2025, Leeds and the former England international mutually agreed to terminate his contract so that he could find a new club, because he was not a part of Farke's plans for the Premier League season.

The left-footed attacker had been a top player for the Whites in the past, scoring 17 goals in the 2020/21 campaign, and scored eight goals in the Championship as recently as the 2023/24 season.

Unfortunately, though, Bamford fell down the pecking order as time went on under Farke in the Championship, which meant that he struggled for minutes in the 2024/25 campaign.

The English centre-forward ended that season with 17 appearances and no starts in the second tier, as Leeds won the Championship title with 100 points, and Joel Piroe took over as the starting number nine.

His failure to score or assist any goals in the 2024/25 campaign eventually led to Farke's decision to leave Bamford out of his plans for the Premier League season last term, which is why he was released in August 2025.

Leeds may have found their new Patrick Bamford

Now, the German head coach may have to make a similar decision on one of the players in his current first-team squad when the January transfer window opens.

In the summer of 2025, one of the strikers brought in with a view to replacing Bamford was German number nine Lukas Nmecha, who arrived on a free transfer from Wolfsburg.

The former Manchester City youngster spent much of the campaign as second fiddle to Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who scored 15 goals in all competitions for the Whites.

Despite being the second-choice in his position, Nmecha provided some value on the pitch for Leeds with a return of seven goals and three assists in 37 appearances in all competitions.

However, all seven of his goals were scored by the middle of February 2026 and he has not scored a competitive goal for Leeds since scoring against Birmingham in the FA Cup just over seven months ago.

The former Germany international has gone 15 matches without a goal in the Premier League and is not currently providing Calvert-Lewin with genuine competition for his place in the side.

Nmecha has failed to score in any of the club's seven matches in all competitions this season, featuring in six of them, and his continued run of games without a goal is a cause for concern.

After making an impact in the first half of last season, with seven goals, the German striker has failed to kick on at Elland Road and looks to be following in Bamford's footsteps at Elland Road.

The 27-year-old centre-forward is not providing Calvert-Lewin with enough competition for his place and there would be valid concerns about the effectiveness of the attack if the England international suffered an injury that kept him out for an extended period.

Nmecha's struggles in 2026 suggest that the Whites should consider putting him up for sale when the January transfer window opens, so that they can create a space in the squad to bring in a new striker.

Leeds need more consistency and quality from their forward players if they want to kick on and be challengers for European football, which is why selling Nmecha could be the right move for the club in January.

That would then allow Farke to go out and recruit a more prolific number nine who can come in to offer genuine competition for Calvert-Lewin's starting role.