Georginio Rutter could make Leeds United debut against Brentford but Patrick Bamford's revival eases the urgency

The striker joined from Hoffenheim at the weekend for a fee which could rise to £35m.

With Germany's Bundesliga only returning from the World Cup this weekend, Rutter's last appearance was against Wolfsburg on November 12. With his big-money transfer brewing, he did not even take part in the team's friendlies ahead of the resumption.

Even so, his new coach thinks he should be able to play some part when Thomas Frank's side visit Elland Road on Sunday.

“I think we're still getting him to 100 per cent fitness," said Marsch. "I think he will adapt quickly. So, I would anticipate that he's in the squad. Maybe we'll think about using him from the bench."

Why Leeds were able to compete for the signature was shown by Deloitte's latest money league, which ranks world football's top 20 highest revenue-generating clubs for 2021-22. The Whites made the list, in 18th, for the first time since 2002-03.

That said, they were only the ninth Premier League club on the list and 20th-placed Newcastle United can expect to rise rapidly after being sold to Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund in October 2021.

Reducing the need to rush Rutter was Wednesday's two-goal performance from substitute Patrick Bamford in the 5-2 FA Cup win over Cardiff City. Bamford also scored against Aston Villa last Friday.

"It took longer for him to recover from (groin) surgery than everyone had planned and you could see he was suffering," said Marsch.

"I had one conversation with him where he was feeling a little bit stressed that he wasn't perfect, he wasn't starting al the time, that he wasn't scoring all the goals, and I tried to see if I could clear his head and just have him get back to loving playing football again.

"I've seen that now from Patrick for two weeks in training and the last two games. He has a smile on his face a lot and I think that's the way he has to play."

Bamford had the luxury of coming on at half-time with his team 3-0 up and the tie essentially decided.

"If it had been 3-1 (Cardiff had a goal chalked off after a video review just before the break) I was not sure I was going to make all the changes, not that I didn't believe in all the guys but you want to think things are secure and that guys are set up to succeed," explained Marsch.

His starting XI in both games against Cardiff was strong, however, albeit he changed his entire back four on Wednesday with Pascal Struijk, Liam Cooper and Robin Koch reporting knocks.

"It's always a little bit tricky with these fixtures," acknowledged Marsch. "I've never lost to a lower-division team as a manager and I value the cup.

"You're trying to get the balance right in some moments.

"For those two matches we maybe made one or two calls to not play guys based on them nursing a few things but if it were a Premier League game we might have fielded the same line-ups.

"It was nice that the tactical clarity was there."

Leeds' victory set up a fourth-round away trip and a tight turnaround for would-be travelling fans.

They are due to face Boreham Wood or Accrington Stanley but with their replay postponed until Tuesday because of a frozen pitch, supporters will have just three days to get tickets and make plans as the fourth-round tie is scheduled for 12.30pm a week on Saturday for overseas broadcast.