Following the club’s relegation from the Premier League at the conclusion of the 2022–2023 season, Leeds United experienced a hectic summer of change both on and off the field last year.
Following their official acquisition of the squad, the 49ers appointed German head coach Daniel Farke as manager of the team for the Championship season.
They also managed a busy transfer window for the Whites, during which nine new players were signed and several first-team players were let go.
Last summer, Victor OrtaVictor Orta sent a number of his Premier League acquisitions—many of whom were on loan at other clubs—away from Elland Road.
There is no possibility for them to extend the loan; Max Wober, one of those loanees, is presently having a great season with Farke’s old team, Borussia Monchengladbach in Germany.
If Leeds gets promoted to the Premier League, the Austrian defender has performed better than Pascal Struijk in the 2023–24 season, thus the manager of the squad may have to make a huge decision about him in the summer.
For a reported £11 million in January of last year, Orta swooped to recruit the center-back from Red Bull Salzburg. This was a relatively small outlay compared to the £36 million agreed upon to sign Georginio Rutter from Hoffenheim.
Wober was coming off a strong season-opening performance in the Austrian Bundesliga. Throughout his 15 divisional appearances with Salzburg, he had made 2.9 tackles and interceptions combined per game and had won 62% of his duels.
However, the 26-year-old behemoth suffered in his first five months at the club as he battled to establish himself in the Premier League after joining a struggling Leeds team midway through the season.
He played in the English Premier game for 16 seasons under three different managers (Jesse Marsch, Javi Gracia, and Sam Allardyce). He had a 53% duel success rate, which was 9% lower than in the Bundesliga, and felt that the physicality of the game was more difficult than in Austria.
It should not have surprised anyone, though, that the left-footed enforcer had to adjust to Premier League football halfway through a season after never having played in the league before, and that he had to play for three different managers in the course of five months.
Rutter’s lack of influence on the field was another indication of this. In 11 league games, the French magician, who has six goals and twelve assists in the Championship this season, managed just one goal and one assist.
Therefore, judging Wober strictly on the basis of his performance for the Whites in the Premier League during the second part of the previous season would be unfair.
However, the 6 foot 2 jewel has fitted in and been a regular player for Monchengladbach in the German Bundesliga this season, surpassing Struijk, the left-sided defender currently playing for Leeds.
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