Daniel Farke's Leeds United in-tray: Clearout, convincing the core, kids, style, signings and spirit are all priorities

The German replaces Sam Allardyce, who was unable to save the Whites from relegation to the Championship last season. That demotion is the cause and consequence of a wide range of problems Farke will have to quickly get to grips with ahead of the first game of the season, which for Leeds is at home to Cardiff City on August 6.

Here are some of his most pressing issues.

Sales

The queue for the Elland Road exit looks to be pretty long at the moment with the likes of Illan Meslier, Diego Llorente, Rasmus Kristensen, Robin Koch, Brenden Aaronson, Marc Roca, Crysencio Summerville, Jack Harrison, Tyler Adams, Rodrigo, Luis Sinisterra and Wilfried Gnonto all linked with moves away. Even youngsters like Leo Fuhr Hjelde, Diogo Monteiro, Sonny Perkins and Mateo Joseph have been mentioned in that breath.

Farke will not want all of them to go by any means but as well as balancing the books it is essential he clears out anyone who could be poisonous if made to honour their contracts reluctantly. There may be others not looking to move on he wants to sell too from a squad that has underperformed for the last two seasons.

Nicky Hammond has been brought in as interim director of football to try to oversee transfers but with only Tyler Roberts sold so far – to Birmingham City – it feels like they are waiting for Farke to make the final call.

When the sales do come, Hammond and Farke will need to ensure Leeds are not taken for a ride, though contract clauses might take some deals out of their hands.

Team spirit

Farke has been through two Premier League relegations at Norwich City, so he knows full well that when the clearout is over, he needs a squad with the team spirit which can see Leeds to promotion, rather than suffering a hangover from the events of May.

The Whites might be big fish in the division but so are Leicester City, Southampton, West Bromwich Albion, Norwich and Watford, and there are only two automatic promotion spots and a play-off trophy to go around so they need to be mentally right. That may not be possible by August 6, but it needs to come quickly after if not.

Part of it will be getting the core of stalwarts from Marcelo Bielsa's promotion-winning team onside as they are the leaders of this group. They need to be persuaded Farke is going down the right course and can get the best out of them individually and the squad as a whole. Without it, they cannot play the way he will want them to.

Playing style

This should be the easy bit, but it is important.

Leeds had a clear identity under Bielsa and in fairness under his successor Jesse Marsch too, it was just that his direct, narrow football was not effective enough in the Premier League. Javi Gracia created a backfoot team, which squanders the big advantage of a pumped-up Elland Road and in four games Allardyce was never really going to be able to create an identity.

Farke brings a brand of football best described as the modern German school of thinking having followed David Wagner as Borussia Dortmund reserve team coach on the back of Jurgen Klopp's hugely successful "heavy metal football" style at first-team level. The intensity of it should come naturally for those who played under Bielsa and/or Marsch, and Elland Road is likely to rise to it if it looks like working.

Get to grips with the fitness of Liam Cooper, Patrick Bamford and Stuart Dallas

Cooper, Bamford and Dallas were three key figures of Leeds's last Championship-winning team and the ninth-placed Premier League side the following season.

Since then, Cooper and Bamford have suffered with niggling problems which have made it difficult to get consistent starts out of them. Three was the most back-to-back starts Cooper managed last season (unless you count the four around the six-week World Cup break) and for Bamford it was six. It was a problem in a Premier League where games tend to come week-to-week, it will be a nightmare in a 46-game season given how important both players can be.

Dallas is a different case having been out for more than a year with a broken leg. The importance of being without the versatile Northern Ireland international was probably overlooked last season, so it is important Leeds get him back to being robust, reliable and confident in his own body.

Signings

With all those potential outgoings, Leeds will need some players coming in. After a relegation, some freshening up is essential anyway.

The question is how much Farke looks for Championship experience, or whether he relies on the old core for that. It will probably be the first of them, with the likes of Karl Darlow and Jayson Molumby linked, although it cannot all be about that and Liverpool centre-back Nat Phillips, Nottingham Forest forward Emmanuel Dennis and Serbia striker Djorja Jovanovic have also been tipped as targets.

Assess the youngsters

For all that he struggled with signing ready-made Premier League stars, former director of football Victor Orta built up a formidable bank of young players and this could be the platform for some of them to shine.

Cody Drameh won promotion on loan at Luton Town last season, Charlie Cresswell caught the eye at Millwall, Hjelde did well on loan at Rotherham United, Joe Gelhardt less so with Sunderland. Kristoffer Klaesson, Kris Moore, Lewis Bate, Darko Gyabi, Jeremiah Mullen, Charlie Allen, Archie Gray, Sam Greenwood and others might be thinking this is their chance to shine.

Not all of them can become important squad members, so Farke will have to decide who is up to the task, who is not, and who needs more time on loan to develop but if one or two can come to the fore, it will make his job much easier.