Daniel Farke’s preseason admission at Leeds United is made by Sam Byram

Leeds United ace Sam Byram has admitted this is one of toughest pre-seasons he has been involved in for some time and urged the Whites to “fuel the fire” from last season to try and gain promotion this term.

The previous campaign ended in heartbreak for the West Yorkshire outfit as they narrowly missed out on regaining their Premier League status at the first time of asking, losing to Southampton in the play-off final.

Byram said boss Daniel Farke has been making the team put in the hard yards as they look to go one better this time around.

“It’s ‘forget what happened,’” he said. “Forget it in terms of we can’t dwell on the past, but keep that hunger, keep that feeling we had in the dressing room after the final, and use that as fuel,” he said to Leeds Live (20 July).

“Fuel the fire. We’ve come back and in the last three weeks, we’ve worked incredibly hard. It’s probably one of the toughest pre-seasons I’ve had in a while.

“I’ve worked with this manager for quite a few seasons. We’ve really, really worked hard. It’s important at this stage to build that base fitness because once the games come there’s not a lot of time to increase your fitness.

“Everyone’s bought into pre-season, everyone’s in really good shape and heading to Germany, everyone’s excited, should be good.”

Leeds United need to gain Premier League promotion this season

The 2023/24 season was difficult for both Leeds’ players and the club’s fans. After a couple of seasons of Premier League football, they had to try their chances in the second tier.

The team did themselves proud and managed to gain a total of 90 points across the season.

And, after they failed to gain promotion at the first time of asking, reality is likely starting to hit the team, especially if they fail again this term.

Archie Gray’s departure is arguably the moment when reality hit most Leeds fans.