Leeds United broke for the elongated international break in the heady heights of fifth place in the Premier League - and perhaps a little disappointed not to be higher with Sunday’s goalless draw against Crystal Palace feeling like an opportunity missed.

But from two of their former favourites who sampled the very best of times at Elland Road comes a warning to take progress slowly.

Both Leeds United league winner Gary McAllister and Champions League semi-finalist Danny Mills believe Daniel Farke’s Whites should continue to walk before they run.

Either that, or they go all in.

First impressions: Tarik Muharemovic of Leeds United, playing against Crystal Palace on Sunday, has proven to be a shrewd piece of business for the club, according to two former players. (Picture: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

placeholder image — First impressions: Tarik Muharemovic of Leeds United, playing against Crystal Palace on Sunday, has proven to be a shrewd piece of business for the club, according to two former players. (Picture: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

Fifth place in another 33 games time is likely to result in Champions League football and would represent an improvement of nine places for Leeds in just their second season back in the Premier League.

While McAllister, Mills and a hungry fanbase would welcome that, the two former players are cautious about what comes in between.

McAllister reckons incremental gains are better for a club trying to build in football’s exorbitant economic times, while Mills is warning against qualifying for Europe’s lesser competitions, with the Conference League for a team that usually finishes eighth representing an avoid-at-all costs scenario.

“It sounds stupid but you’ve almost got to say it’s either Europa League or not bother,” Mills told The Yorkshire Post from the Yorkshire Invitational celeb-am golf event at Ilkley last week.

Worth the investement: James Trafford of Leeds United (Picture: Luke Walker/Getty Images)

“That sounds really bad, but the Europa League is beneficial to the players, Conference League isn’t and it makes it harder for the club to compete in the Premier League.

“Every team has struggled with that. Sunday-Thursday kills you. It’s no real difference to Saturday-Wednesday but it knocks you out of a rhythm and people find it hard.

“Are they going to finish where they are now? Probably not, but the most important thing remains survival. First and foremost get to 38 points as quick as possible and then see what happens, a bit like Sunderland did last season, and that has to be the aim. The problem with the lower European competitions like the Conference League is it adds a different dimension to your squad.

“You’ve got to go to Sunday-Thursday, you need a bigger squad, you need to spend more. How do you rotate? How do you keep everybody happy? It’s very difficult to do that.

Former Leeds United manager and player Gary McAllister (Picture: Getty Images)

“It’s great for the fans, especially the lower competitions where you get some peculiar and quite left-field trips away, but there’s no money in it for the club, unless you’re in the Europa League. Below that, brilliant for the fans but how good is it actually for the club, because you’ve got to spend more money to build a bigger squad but you’re not getting that financial return from the games you’re playing, that’s the problem.”

Thirty-six years ago McAllister joined a Leeds team that had just won promotion to Division One. They finished fourth in his first season in the top flight and memorably won the league title in 1991-92.

Such lofty ambitions might be something to consider for the future, but right now, the former Scotland international and Whites manager believes small steps should be the target.

“I’m not going to jump ahead and say they’re going to take Arsenal on, but I was thinking after last season where we finished really well, if we jumped up into the middle of the table it would be a good result,” said McAllister.

Danny Mills in his Leeds United days (Picture: Michael Steele /Allsport)

“What you’re trying to achieve changes as you go along. We’re only a few games in but you never know - all of a sudden, finishing ninth and 10th is possible.

“I think the club with the way they’re investing and the way they’re recruiting, if you can get to nine or 10 would be a good result.

“It’s very difficult to make big jumps with the financial rules these days, so maybe just take it incrementally.

“But that’s not to say it wouldn’t be nice getting into Europe.”

The pair are also in agreement on the recruitment the club undertook in the summer, identifying specific targets for their style of play and getting the business done - largely - early on.

“Tarik Muharemović looks a good player to me,” said McAllister of the 23-year-old Slovenian defender signed from Sassuolo in Italy.

“I like the fact that they can be a three, a four or a five, there’s nice rotation in the way we defend. So he’s big.

“And the goalkeeper (James Trafford) is class. It’s a case of you get what you pay for.

“It sounded a lot but even after four or five games he’s looking like a snip at £40-odd million.”

Mills added: “Leeds have been superb, they’ve carried on from last season where they kind of stumbled across a formation that seemed to work, they’ve then recruited specifically for those positions this season and it makes a huge difference.

“They went down the route of getting athletic, physically strong players to compete in this division and it’s worked out for them.”