2023 was the year of player and managerial exits from Leeds United.
Daniel Farke became Leeds’ fifth new manager of the year upon his appointment in July, while numerous members of the playing squad also moved on after relegation.
The vast majority of the exits from Elland Road last summer were actually loans, with players making the most of clauses that became active after Leeds‘ return to the Championship. Farke has already hinted they will not be welcome back.
But there were also plenty of permanent departures, too, with Tyler Adams’ big money move to Bournemouth very much headlining those.
At the same time, it was also the right time to say goodbye to a couple of fringe players, and there is one who is still yet to find himself a new club.
Costa still a free agent after Leeds release last year
After Leeds’ return to the Championship, there may have been a few wondering whether Helder Costa could’ve actually been welcomed back into the fold.
Costa was a regular in Marcelo Bielsa’s promotion side, but spent both the 2021/22 and 2022/23 campaign on loan at Valencia and Al-Ittihad respectively. He even won the league at the latter.
However, despite the fact Leeds spent £16 million to bring him in for Wolves, as per talkSPORT, it became clear pretty quickly that Farke would not be reintegrating him.
He spent much of pre-season training on his own, and Farke was happy to find a resolution on his future when Leeds decided to release him for nothing a year early from his contract.
And it would appear that was definitely the right decision, as Costa is still yet to actually find himself a new club, despite being released as long ago as October.
The 30-year-old has now not kicked a ball at club level since his last game for Al-Ittihad in May last year, which is now almost 12 months ago. It will be interesting to see where his career goes next.