Daniel Farke has his say as Mateo Joseph asks to leave Leeds United, requesting to not travel with the squad for their tour in Germany.
The Leeds boss has confirmed that 21-year-old striker wants to leave the Premier League returnees, with a preference for a move to Spain due to his Spanish roots.
Despite making 39 appearances and scoring three goals in the Championship last season, Joseph did not join Leeds’ pre-season tour in Germany, citing unreadiness.
Farke expressed disappointment, noting the club’s investment in Joseph, who is under contract for three more years.
While Farke won’t block a transfer, no club has met Leeds’ valuation yet.
Joseph’s decision to skip training and friendlies has led Farke to urge professionalism, but he respects the player’s mental state.
Leeds boss Daniel Farke has confirmed striker Mateo Joseph wants to leave the club. 😬
The 21-year-old requested to not travel with the squad for their pre-season tour to Germany. ❌ pic.twitter.com/MV59SemNOa
— Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) July 23, 2025
Daniel Farke on Mateo Joseph, who has asked to leave Leeds United.
“What should I do. I can’t call the police to drag him here on the training pitch. It was his decision.” #LUFC pic.twitter.com/KkIoNj5VLk
— Aadam Patel (@aadamp9) July 22, 2025
“It’s not a situation I like. I’ve spoken honestly to him and strongly recommended him to be professional but he said he’s not in the mental state to do this.” 🗣️
More from Farke on Joseph here ⬇️https://t.co/SnjB3Rme99
— Aadam Patel (@aadamp9) July 22, 2025
“It was actually the plan to have him here [in Germany],” said Daniel Farke after Leeds beat SC Verl 4-1.
“With him the situation is quite clear. We really value and rate him – otherwise we wouldn’t have played him, especially in the beginning of the last successful campaign ahead of a golden boot winner in Joel Piroe and an experienced striker like Patrick Bamford.
“I think overall he had last season, if I’m not completely wrong, 39 appearances for us in the Championship. I think double figures in, of appearances in the starting lineup. You just do this with a 20 year old guy or meanwhile 21 year old guy when you believe in him and trust him and and back him.
“So it’s a sign of of how much we value him and and what we see in him. Yes. Nevertheless, he came to me and to us and has said, that he wants a new challenge and would like to have a move.
“He has also hinted, that, he wants and prefers a move to Spain due to his, Spanish roots. And, yes, obviously, that was more or less his call, and I was, okay.
“We just want players who who are excited about the project to play with Leeds United in the best league in the world here in the Premier League, who want to be here with us and and want to be successful with us. And if this is more or less your your wish, I, as a manager, won’t stand in the way and accept this because I just want players who want to be here and and are buzzing anyhow that we can represent this club, on a Premier League level. And that I’ve said, okay, Matteo. I accept accept this. I won’t stand in the way.
“On the other hand, it’s also clear, that we, as a club, have invested a lot in him, time, money, backing, whatever. And, he is on a long term contract, and and we value him. One thing is also for sure that, we will just, make a move possible once there is a club who meets the expectations of the club.
“But this is not a topic for me. This is not a topic for our board and and our key people to decide, okay, what is what is the right value? Because, I don’t pay the players. I don’t buy the players. I said, yeah, I don’t have enough money.
“So it’s then definitely up to the club and and up, to the board to make the decisions. I won’t send it away, but, of course, I think our club has an also expectations. And the truth is, that no other club has met the expectations yet.
“And for that, he’s still our player. And for that, we expected him also, like, to train and travel with us. But, yeah, he mentioned that he didn’t feel ready for the for the trip to, to Stockholm to play Man United, and I accepted this because he trained a bit, or start a bit later with the training. I think that was also understandable.
“But, then, the day after, we expect him to be with us here more or less in Germany. He said also, like, he didn’t doesn’t feel ready, due to the situation to to travel and to train and, and, yeah, to play the friendlies here in Germany, and this is not the situation I like.
“I’ve also spoke open and honest about him, with him, about the situation and have strongly recommended, to say no.”
“We have invested a lot in him – time, money and backing,” Farke added.
“He’s on a long-term contract and we value him. This is for our key people and the board to decide the value. The truth is that no other club has met our expectations yet.
“Because of that, we expected him to train and travel with us. He mentioned that he didn’t feel ready for the trip to Stockholm. I accepted this because he started later with training. The day after, he said he didn’t feel ready to travel to play the friendlies here in Germany.
“It’s not a situation I like. I’ve spoken honestly to him and strongly recommended him to be professional but he said he’s not in a mental state to do this.
“What should I do? I can’t call the police to drag him here on the training pitch. It was his decision.”
“Essentially he’s refusing to come on pre-season tour.”
Our reaction to Spanish striker Mateo Joseph requesting a move away from Leeds United.
Ep 164 of ‘Don’t Go To Bed Just Yet’ is coming soon on @BBCSounds and your usual providers! ⏳#LUFC | #BBCFootball pic.twitter.com/aGf3exgNI1
— BBC Sport West Yorkshire (@BBCWYS) July 22, 2025
Everyone you’ll ever meet is fighting a battle you’ll NEVER know about.
🗣️ Mateo Joseph on dealing with Mental Health. pic.twitter.com/0xvrnr6r7S
— MATT 🅿️ (@PapaPincus) April 25, 2025
Daniel Farke has his say as Mateo Joseph asks to leave Leeds United, this is what fans on Twitter are saying…
@MissVJFxx: get rid of him
@HazelRLockwood: I love how farke puts the players who put in transfer requests showing them no one is bigger than the club, unlucky joseph, thinking your bigger than the club, good luck finding a club that wants you
@M_Robertson1234: You can’t accept this sort of behaviour from a top player let alone an incredibly mediocre one
@CarlosRalphos: Very poor from Joseph. Doesn’t want to train whilst under contract ? Dont fucking pay him. If you dont want to be here …. #lufc
@yorkshirejanner: Shit happens. Move him on for a sensible price and get someone else in. No point crying about it.
@LeonLockwood6: Best choice of his career hopefully get a good fee for him and he will go on to have a good career, narrow minded by farke similar thing with ramazani
@Robertkas88: £15-£20mil or tell any club to get fucked!
@chrisgalton: Get rid. Doesn’t want to be there, listen to sensible offers. He won’t play for a bigger club. Just needs to be patient but obviously being advised differently. Hope we’re not paying him as he’s in breach of contract now?
@lufcThommo: Comes across as a real 🔔end Joseph! Got too ahead of himself when he played well last pre season! Fair play to Farke who has once again handled a situation superbly and with real class and dignity! See ya 👋🏼 #lufc
@FlyTheWhiteRose: Good on Farke. He is the boss, and you shouldn’t mess with him. I wanted Joseph to leave anyway, but that truly should show Mateos bad ego towards us all. He’s always been desperate to score and plays for himself imo. Time to sell and build funds for that striker we need #LUFC
@LewisDeighton17: This is brutal wow fair play Farke. #LUFC
@ScottEaglen: This is a perfectly reasonable interview from Farke. And to be fair, also reasonable if Joseph wants to go. No doubt he’ll go onto be a top player, just not yet.
@ConnorMOT92: Fair play to Farke here. Joseph refusing to train is disgraceful. Just get him gone ASAP. #LUFC
@parmadiggyd: Send him on his way. Right decision for both club and player. Good luck to him but he’s not someone who will make us better now or in the future. #lufc
@tomo_w94: Extremely unprofessional from Joseph. Young lad, with a bright future, but this isn’t how you go about your business. Risky move. I can’t imagine he will have clubs lining up for him. We get around 7-10m it’s a good deal for us
@71sadfan: We’re seeing a different Daniel Farke so far than we did in the Championship IMO. To me it feels like he’s so much more locked in on making this season a success because for him, he needs it badly. For the club, of course we need survival but Farke has a TON at stake too. #LUFC
@hamzalufc: It’s understandable he wants to leave but to refuse to train is being a dickhead about it. Around £10m should be a good deal for us. Off you pop
@WM80_: Mental to see people backing Joseph for this, refusing to train is a giant big middle finger to the club, Betis have so far been unable to put up the £££ for him, if anyone is unable to then he’s fucked it for himself.
https://t.co/efSVXtlUCO pic.twitter.com/ZRUOm3tErp
— Deondre (@DeondreJackson_) July 22, 2025
