The Athletic have reported that Leeds have agreed a season-long loan deal with Nice for left-back Melvin Bard. And Daniel Farke is still hopeful of a few other recruits by the end of the day, if they promise to be an upgrade on what we already have.

The signing of Bard will cost us an initial loan fee of €1million (£860,000), though we have the option of converting the deal to a permanent transfer at the end of the season at the cost of an additional €5million (£4.3m). He will provide cover for Gudmundsson at left back, although the latter is on the mend from his recent injury, and was an unused substitute on Sunday.

James Justin had to stand in for Gudmundsson in the first few games, but at times he looked an awkward fit for that position, as he is naturally right-footed. And his ability to deputise in central defence might be needed if any of our other defenders join Joe Rodon on the treatment table.

There might have been the option of giving Jayden Lienou a game, but at 18 the promising youngster is still considered to be ‘one for the future’. Bard is 25 and has made 168 appearances in Ligue 1 for Lyon and Nice, as well as playing 19 games in the minor European club competitions. League and Conference League.

Elsewhere, the ‘one in one out’ policy means that Gnonto is currently in limbo, waiting to see if we can land a replacement before the club sanctions his own loan move to Italy. Everything is in place at Fiorentina, but our attempt to sign Mykhailo Mudryk seems to have fallen through, as the latest is that the Ukrainian is about to join Spurs instead.

One player who was allowed to head to sunny Italy in search of first team football was Lucas Perri, whose loan move to Torino was allowed to go ahead once we had completed the signing of 31-year-old Michael Zetterer from Eintracht Frankfurt. Zetterer seemed a lot happier about the prospect of warming the Elland Road bench when he spoke to the club’s official website.

“I'm very happy also to work with him [Trafford]. I think he's also a big signing for the club, he has big potential to be maybe England's number one. And yeah, I will help him with everything I can. I hope we all just keep pushing each other to get better and then to achieve good things for the club. I've heard a lot [about Leeds United]. They told me the city, the area around, is fully into the club. So yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing this.”

Zetterer has made a total of 108 first team appearances for Werder Bremen and Eintracht Frankfurt, five of which were in the Champions League. But despite his upbeat comments, it’s hard to see him displacing Trafford while the latter stays fit, apart from a few games in the domestic cup competitions to keep him happy.

And finally, it looks like Largie Ramazani is heading to Burnley on a permanent transfer, which should bring in a bit of cash as he still has two years remaining on the contract he signed with Leeds in 2024. There is bound to be plenty more transfer news before the day is out, so watch this space.

Reuters