Monk brushes off China rumours as Leeds United set to reveal transfer targets this week

Kemar Roofe is congratulated by Sol Bamba and Kyle Bartley after scoring the winning goal.

A first-half penalty from Chris Wood followed by a second-half strike from Kemar Roofe sealed a 2-1 victory in the club’s final pre-season friendly, ahead of next Sunday’s Championship opener at Queen’s Park Rangers.

Monk admitted that there was still a need to further strengthen the squad but is hopeful of further new arrivals.

Leeds continue to be linked with a move for Sunderland midfielder Liam Bridcutt, who excelled last season on loan at Elland Road, while suggestions emerged on Saturday that United are also looking at former Swansea City winger Pablo Hernández, who is with Qatari side Al-Arabi.

Monk refused to be drawn on individual targets but said: “We have identified them and I am sure you will see it in the coming days.

“You will see the positions that we are trying to look for and then we go from there. But I don’t talk about players. We keep that in house. We keep our business respectful.”

Monk also said rumours of interest in buying Leeds from a consortium based in China would have no affect on his players. It was revealed on Friday that Leeds United fan Steve Tappin, the chief executive officer and founder of consultancy firm Xinfu, has been holding talks with a consortium comprising entrepreneurs and a private equity group who could be about to launch a £100m bid to buy the club.

Tappin took to social media on Saturday afternoon to say that he “remained committed to finding the right funding for Leeds with interested Chinese investors” but that it was “not necessary to comment in the English press.”

Whites chairman Massimo Cellino was at Elland Road on Saturday and there are suggestions that the Italian is not interested in selling.

“We don’t focus on those things,” said Monk.

“My job is to focus on my players and my players’ job is to focus on what they do. That’s what we’ve been implementing and that’s a mentality that we are trying to create within the group. There’s a very big togetherness coming together here and that real sense of unity is what we are building.”