Max Wober is the talk of Leeds United right now as the time for a decision on his future draws ever closer.
Wober is currently away at the European Championships with Austria but has already admitted Leeds have told him talks will be held once his time at the tournament is done.
Both his and Rasmus Kristensen’s futures have been thrown under the spotlight in the last 10 days after the news of Brenden Aaronson’s return to Elland Road.
Aaronson has rejected the option to leave Leeds on loan for a second successive season after holding talks with Daniel Farke about his role next term, among other things.
With Jack Harrison and Marc Roca set to finalise exits imminently, and Diego Llorente’s time at the club having been over for some time, only Wober and Kristensen remain from last summer’s loan army.
Why Wober is more difficult to bring back than Aaronson
After Robin Koch and Llorente, Aaronson was the third player to leave on loan last summer, officially joining Union Berlin on July 9.
This came just five days after Farke had been appointed at Leeds, meaning he had little to no time of having a conversation on his future, given an exit had long been rumoured beforehand.
On the contrary, Wober did not make his move to Borussia Monchengladbach until the end of July, after Leeds had already plastered across their social media that he had reported for pre-season.
By that point, there had been reports Wober told Leeds he would be happy to stick around in the Championship, until the first offer from elsewhere came about.
His exit left a real sour taste of in the mouth of his teammates at Leeds, and speaking on the latest episode of the Inside Elland Road Podcast, journalist Graham Smyth believes his relationship with supporters may already be beyond repair for him to make a comeback.
He said: “They definitely had a feeling those two [Wober and Kristensen] would stay, and they obviously didn’t. Wober captained Leeds in a pre-season friendly, admittedly a young Leeds side against Barnsley, but he was given the armband and so Farke gave him that level of respect.
“The he chipped off so I don’t know how much appetite there will be to have them back, and the fanbase is keenly aware of the individual circumstances. It feels like there are levels to the dislike of each of these players and I feel like Wober is on the wrong end of the scale to expect a welcome back.”
Leeds should look to sell Wober this summer
Despite his abysmal display against France in Austria’s EURO 2024 opener earlier this week, Wober would undoubtedly be an asset at this level.
However, as Smyth has alluded to, there just may be too much water under the bridge for him to be able to comeback. Farke will not want to risk a toxic atmosphere from supporters from the very off.
Leeds also have Pascal Struijk in his favoured position of left centre-back ready to return from injury in pre-season, someone Farke handed the armband to last season and labelled as the ‘cornerstone’ of the club’s future.
Aaronson, meanwhile, is coming back into a position where Leeds did not have an out-and-out option in the squad, making it much easier to transition him back in.
Wober is unlikely to be short of interest given his displays at Gladbach and even if it is less for their original asking price, Leeds should move him on.