It arrived in the final throes of the summer window of 2014. With just ten minutes to go on deadline day, United posted a tantalising message to their followers via social media stating: "Don't go to bed just yet... there is still work to be done".

It came back to seriously haunt them. Instead of the new signing announcement which supporters were envisaging - and the club were preparing for - Leeds sold young strikers Matt Smith and Dominic Poleon instead.

Years later, the tweet would even inspire the name of a BBC podcast dedicated to events at Elland Road.

Which brings us to the here and now, with the end of the summer window just over a fortnight down the road.

So far in the close season, Leeds have been seriously left hamstrung in the market, a legacy of the myopic policy decision by the club's former owners of inserting exit clauses into a raft of players' deals in the event of relegation last term.

Eight frontline players have subsequently left Elland Road, with seven heading out on loan. A pitiful total of just £3m has been recouped in transfer fees, leaving Leeds - and more especially Daniel Farke - seemingly under-resourced in his quest to replenish his badly-depleted squad in double-quick time.

At his pre-match conference ahead of Friday's game with West Brom, Farke offered a welcome touch of hope. It was Napoleon Bonaparte who said 'a leader is a dealer in hope' and so is United's head coach.

He strongly suggested that release clauses remaining in the contracts of some existing players have expired, with the club 'back in the driver’s seat' regarding their futures and in a better bargaining position by definition.

Those players are thought to include Tyler Adams, who recently saw a move to Chelsea fall through and is also attracting interest from Bournemouth, and Luis Sinisterra.

Aside from the goalkeeping department, it is far to say that Leeds need replenishment across the pitch with Farke's focus understandably being on incomings.

Crucially, the German appears not to be fazed by the prospect of things going down to the wire either.

He remains confident regarding new signings - and relatively relaxed even as Leeds finetune their pitch to sign players, primarily those at Premier League clubs who are destined not to make the cut in 25-man squads.

Farke said: "It's definitely a small period of time. It's complicated, because we will also have to work a bit under the time pressure.

"That's quite normal, but we were fully aware of the situation. We're fully aware that we would have more clarity, the more that August will go by. Probably, we'll have to make some late decisions.

"That means perhaps not each and every player we wanted to sign is available anymore, but the situation is like this.

"It's a bit tricky, but I'm quite confident that we'll have some good solutions and you know the quote 'Save the best for last'. So sometimes it's even a good choice.

"Instead of having the earlier decision and to panic anyhow, we are quite relaxed, not falling asleep and also still aware of the situation. But we are also fully convinced that we're doing the right things behind the scenes."

Decision-making has seen the club ostracise the wantaway trio of Willy Gnonto, Sinisterra and Helder Costa, who are training away from the main first-team group.

Sinisterra made himself 'unavailable' for last weekend's game at Birmingham City alongside Gnonto, who does not have a release clause in his deal.

The Italian international, subject of bids from Everton, has refused to play in the last two matches after Leeds said they were not prepared to sell him. He is one year into a five-year deal.

The contractual situation regarding a number of players, allied to their desire to leave, has ensured that Farke has been afforded something akin to a baptism of fire at Leeds.

That said, some of his previous post-relegation experiences at Norwich have come in handy in that regard.

He commented: "I think this is quite important to also show as a club that you're always in the driver's seat. I was also in quite a similar situation after relegation with Norwich.

"Especially (with) young players who were there with uncertainty and the same situation.

"So in my time for example, I had two players I had to leave out of the squad because I got the feeling 'no they're not not focused, not fully committed to the group' and then in the end these two players were more like the heroes of promotion.

"It's never guaranteed that it will happen again in the same way. But for me, it's quite important that you always show some steel and some strength, because the club is always bigger than any individual.

"You also have to educate the players a little bit and we have to make sure that we also learn the lessons from the past that we will always, always be in the driver's seat from the contractual situation."

Sam Greenwood is back in United’s squad for Friday’s game, but Leo Hjelde will miss out due to a concussion injury sustained in training.

Leeds United transfer news: 'Relaxed' Daniel Farke remains confident that Championship club will 'save the best for last' and is envisaging key late incoming business in summer window