DANIEL Farke admits that the return of Leeds United midfield enforcer Ilia Greuv has arrived earlier than he expected - after he made his first appearance in almost three-and-a-months on Saturday.

The Whites sanctioned Gelhardt's departure last week after having previously informed the young player at the start of the year that he would likely be allowed out on loan to get some game time, after playing just nine minutes of the Championship campaign so far for Daniel Farke.

Daniel Farke hailed Harrogate’s defensive resilience “in the game of their lives” after Leeds reached the fourth round of the FA Cup with a 1-0 win at Elland Road. Largie Ramazani settled the first-ever competitive encounter between the two Yorkshire clubs by heading home a second-half winner to ensure promotion-chasing Leeds avoided an upset.

Leeds United take part in the Emirates FA Cup third round this evening, taking on local League Two side Harrogate Town.Daniel Farke has made a host of changes to the starting line-up for the game,

The breakthrough finally came in the 58th minute after great work down the left by Manor Solomon. The Israel international drove to the byline and dinked an inviting cross into the box for Largie Ramazani to head home. It came moments after Solomon's ferocious shot struck the crossbar.

Leeds face a testing opening month of 2025. They play fellow promotion hopefuls Burnley (A) and Blackburn Rovers (H), Yorkshire rivals Hull City (A) and Sheffield Wednesday (H), plus Farke's old team, Norwich City (H). Sandwiched in the middle of all that is an FA Cup third round tie with Harrogate Town at home.