Leeds United's Daniel Farke says he owes his quiet life to Willy Gnonto stance last summer

Last August Willy Gnonto handed in a transfer request after saying he was not in the right frame of mind to play for the relegated club as Everton tried to sign him. Luis Sinisterra and Tyler Adams were allowed to leave rather than argue over the interpretation of their release clauses.

Later in the season Charlie Cresswell was left out of the squad and although he was integrated in the January transfer window, he has since been sold to Toulouse.

Everton continue to be linked with Gnonto, but Max Wober and Brenden Aaronson have returned having left on loan last year rather than drop into the Championship.

Both are back having played in this summer's major international tournaments, albeit Borussia Monchengladback have refused to rule a bid later in the window to buy Austrian Wober, who they loaned last season.

Wober committed himself earlier than Farke demanded – American Aaronson was reintegrated too – and the manager takes the absence of players agitating to leave after Leeds missed promotion as vindication.

Farke said of his discussions with Wober: "He was a bit longer involved in the (European Championship) tournament but we had a good chat on the telephone when he was playing the games for Austria then I allowed him to have at least two, two-and-a-half weeks' holiday to clear his head and come back but he wanted to be with us and prove his worth.

"You could compare him to Georgie (Rutter) and Ilan (Meslier) who returned to us the season before and were also a bit in doubt and now everyone is fully convinced and singing their names.

"You could feel at the start it was a bit like that with Max, he was a bit careful not to be too loud within the group but the German training camp was pretty beneficial.

"We said after the pre-season we'd sit together and speak really honestly about how his experience after three weeks of training was. He came straight away after the German training camp and knocked on the door of my office .

"He said, 'I don't want to wait until three weeks are over, I'm 100 per cent convinced, I believe in this group and what we're doing, I want to be here.'

"Like with Brenden, one good training session and one good game is not enough to win back all the hearts and all the trust of the supporters but he already has my backing because he's been top class in training so far.

"They both came back a bit later and will need a couple of weeks to be there at 100 per cent, but I've got the feeling they can play a really important part and that he’s really desperate to prove his point, a bit like Georgie or Ilan.

"But right now the real stuff starts and he has to prove it in the games so let's not celebrate it too much. Actions are more important than just the words."

As well as not having to deal with restless players, Farke also has a fully fit squad to choose from for Saturday's opening game of the Championship season, at home to Portsmouth.

"Not one player was knocking on the door of my office to rule themselves out of training or games or saying they wanted to leave," he claimed.

"I'm not naive, we have good players and probably there are some talks in the background. When you have offers from clubs from the Premier League or the highest level, as a player he's allowed to think about it but not one player was in my office.

"That's why it was right last season (to handle Gnonto as he did).

"It was a bit brave to do it because at times we had just 13, 14 players in training and I left two or three players out saying if you don't want to be here, we'll train just with 11 or 12, no problem.

"It sends the right message because even if someone was tempted to do this (this summer) no one was brave enough to knock at my office any more.

"Sometimes you have to be brave although it's a difficult situation, you don't let your values or your standards drop. This is always my way.

"If it's necessary I will take the groundsman to play for us because I know they will fight for the shirt instead of playing a player who is not desperate to do this."

On the health of his squad, he added: "I've rarely had this situation in my life as a manager where for the first game everyone is fit and ready to go."