Leeds United transfer news: Forgotten man Helder Costa's Elland Road future 'clear' says Daniel Farke

The Portuguese international winger has a year left on his Elland Road contract but has not played for the club since August 2021.

Since then he has been on two season-long loans, at Valencia and Saudi Arabian club Al Ittihad.

Whilst the future of a number of senior players remains up in the air, manager Farke seems sure that Costa's is not.

“Helder, it's clear,” he said. “So we were quite open. He was quite open, at any point, he wants to leave the club and there will be a decision.

“So, more or less, from the beginning of pre-season he was not in our plans and we were not in his plan so it's fair to think there will be a solution.”

Ironically, in his time in England, Costa gained an unfortunate reputation as a player well suited to the Championship, but not the Premier League, an important part of promotion-winning sides at Wolverhampton Wanderers and Leeds, but discarded in the top flight.

He made 30 Championship starts on loan from Leeds in 2019-20, but has only kicked off 16 Premier League matches since the £16m obligation to buy him kicked in. He scored seven league goals in total for the club.

If Costa is unable to find a European club by the September 1 deadline, the Saudi transfer window remains open until September 20.

Even with numbers low after seven players left on loan and with more apparently keen to follow, Farke will be hoping Costa finds a new club in that time.