Why Joel Piroe did not play vs RB Leipzig as Farke offers Leeds sales verdict
· Isaac Johnson · 2026-08-09 · nguồn gốc
Daniel Farke says his decision to leave Joel Piroe on the bench in Leeds United’s 120-minute friendly against RB Leipzig on Saturday was merely due to his place in the pecking order.
Despite the match involving two 60-minute halves, Piroe was left on the sidelines as goalscorers Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Lukas Nmecha completed the full hour of either period. Piroe did not get onto the field against Liverpool in Chicago on Sunday, either.
Farke was naturally keen for Calvert-Lewin to play a full half, having only enjoyed 45 minutes during the tour of the US after sustaining a small setback in his individual pre-season programme.
Back-up Nmecha, though, had played 135 minutes during the tour prior to kick off but Farke decided to keep him on for the full second hour and was rewarded with the second goal of the 2-0 win.
Asked why Piroe - whose training attitude he praised - failed to come on at all during the two-hour game, Farke explained: “So the reason is just like we had two games of 60 minutes, and Dominic missed the first part of pre-season. He desperately needed the 60 minutes today.
“And yeah, also Lukas Nmecha was in a good shape, has scored goals, was then slightly ahead of Joel Piroe in the striker role. This is the only reason.
“But of course, tough anyhow for Joel. But during the long season, we have to take some tough decisions. And right now, we are on the stage of pre-season where I can't just say ‘OK, you play 30 minutes and the other 30 minutes, whatever’.
“They need, right now, a proper chunk of minutes, and that's the only reason. No problems at all with Joel. He's training fully-focused, concentrated and professional like always. Just a decision for Dominic and for the game time of Lukas today, and not against Joel.”
Leeds have sold Pascal Struijk, Isaac Schmidt and Jack Harrison so far this summer while Lucas Perri is expected to join Torino on loan soon, once his quad injury has healed. But more could follow, with Leeds left with slightly tighter spending margins in the short-term under the new Squad Cost Ratio rules.
Farke underlined the need to be “smart” in the window amid “limited resources”. That Piroe - who wishes to stay at Leeds - is in the manager’s pre-season squad suggests the striker has not been ousted from Farke’s plans.
However, given his lack of Premier League game time last season - just two starts and none after August - combined with him currently only having a year left on his deal, albeit with the option for an extra 12 months, Piroe would be a prime candidate for a sale.
Asked more generally whether there could be more outgoings in the final three weeks of the indow, Farke replied: “We will see. So far, no one has knocked at my door in order to say that he wants to leave.
"It's also not that the group is too big at the moment. So yeah, let's see what what happens once we edge closer to the start.
“Perhaps also after the first one or two games, a few players are perhaps a bit more disappointed, then it’s more likely that someone would knock at my door. But it seems like everyone is in a good mood, everyone is happy.
“I'm happy with all my boys. I bring them all my respect. Everyone who's involved gets all my attention. All chances also to shine. Also today [we had] many, many young players on the pitch. Seventeen-year-olds against a Champions League side.
“So for that, yeah, first team players at the moment, I'm happy to have all of them. It's more or less to add a few more because for a long season we can't just rely on 17-year-olds or too many players from under-21.
"For that, I don't expect too much business on the outgoing side, but I also won't rule anything out.”