Daniel Farke aims to repay Leeds United trust after being handed four-year contract as manager

The 46-year-old German has been chosen for his style of play and his track record in the Championship. He has had three seasons in the division with Norwich City, and won the title in each of the last two.

The new Elland Road regime’s confidence in him is reflected in a four-year contract. Farke was grateful for that support when he spoke about his appointment.

“I’d like to thank everyone for the really warm welcome, I’m really grateful at this moment, to work for this amazing club,” he said.

“I feel humble at this time, I know the responsibility to fulfil all the expectations and I want to repay the trust shown.”

Leeds were relegated from the Premier League at the end of last season after three years in the top flight.

The Whites chose Farke last week but had been hoping they would receive official approval from the Football League and the Financial Conduct Authority for 49ers Enterprises to take over the running of the club before making the appointment.

But after 32 days without a manager since it was announced Sam Allardyce would not be returning to Elland Road, time ran out with the coaching element of pre-season training due to start on Wednesday.

Farke had an undistinguished playing career in lower-league German football, where he had three spells with SV Lippstadt, where he was in his words probably "the slowest striker in the whole of Western Europe" but had a good coaching education with Lippstadt and Borussia Dortmund.

In Dortmund he succeeded Huddersfield Town-bound David Wagner as the reserve team manager and although Jurgen Klopp moved to Liverpool at the same time, his style of football has some of the "heavy metal football characteristics shown by both, with an intense pressing style.

After two years he left for Norwich in 2017, and the Canaries spent four seasons yo-yoing between the Championship and Premier League before his sacking in November 2021.

He joined Russian Premier League club Krasnodar but did not take charge of any matches because of the invasion of Ukraine, and spent last season at Borussia Monchengladbach, sacked at the end of a campaign which saw them finish 10th in the Bundesliga.

Farke will need to hit the ground running with a squad which faces massive upheaval after relegation as Leeds look to cut their wage bill, bring in transfer fees to cover the revenue lost outside the lucrative top-flight, cut adrift players who do not want to be there, and sign players who can turn the squad into promotion winners.

A host of international players are looking to leave this summer and in many cases are believed to have deals lined up.

Leeds's first Championship game is at home to Cardiff City on August 6.

As expected expected to bring assistant Edmund Riemer, first-team coach Christopher John and head of performance Chris Domogalla have been named as Farke’s support staff, as they were at Norwich City, Krasnodar and Borussia Monchengladbach.