Leeds United are hoping to find a new loan club for Charlie Crew in the second half of the season after allowing Jack Harrison to join Fiorentina.

Harrison's departure – initially on loan but with the Serie A club understood to have an option to make the deal permanent for around £6m – is about balancing squad numbers and spending after the loan arrival of Facundo Bounanotte, and with Leeds still hopeful of adding a centre-forward, ideally Wolverhampton Wanderers' Jorgen Strand Larsen.

But a move for Crew this month will be about furthering his development after a disappointing time at Doncaster Rovers.

It was the Wales midfielder's second Doncaster loan in 2025. Whereas he made 11 League Two starts, he found it tougher once Rovers were in League One, kicking off just five matches and only coming off the bench twice.

Manager Grant McCann said Crew missing matches on Wales duty did not help the 19-year-old, but also admitted: "He probably hasn’t got to the levels that I thought he would do".

Crew was not involved in Leeds' FA Cup third-round win at Derby County and will play no part in the first-team this month. A senior appearance for Leeds would stop him going elsewhere on loan in this transfer window.

"He will be with the under-21s during January in case we send him out on loan again because the last loan didn't go really to plan," said manager Daniel Farke. “We were hoping he would play more consistently.

"Sometimes it's difficult, a loan. Sometimes it doesn't work but we have to find a good solution for him because he needs minutes at senior level and in proper games.

DISAPPOINTING: Leeds United were hoping Charlie Crew would get more gametime at Doncaster Rovers (Image: Catherine Ivill - AMA/Getty Images)

placeholder image — DISAPPOINTING: Leeds United were hoping Charlie Crew would get more gametime at Doncaster Rovers (Image: Catherine Ivill - AMA/Getty Images)

"If he is still here in February then we’ll speak about if he returns to our squad or not."

Harrison struggled to win over supporters after returning from two years on loan, and Farke appears to have lost faith.

The winger was one of many players who exercised the right to go on loan when Leeds were relegated in 2023, shortly after he signed a contract until 2028. Everton took him on two season-long loans, but sent him back in the summer.

Harrison's only Premier League start this season was at Burnley, and November‘s substitute appearance at Nottingham Forest, his ninth, seems to have been the breaking point. Since then his only outings were as an 89th-minute substitute at Brentford and an FA Cup start at Championship Derby County when regulars were rested.