Leeds United’s transfer window priority has been set by Daniel Farke as he avoids the blame game

Experience will be one of the key improvements Daniel Farke wants to bring to his Leeds United squad next season. Having accumulated 90 points but still falling short of the final target, the German knows he needs to find marginal gains to get the Whites over the line in 2025.

The average age of Farke’s 11 most-used players last season was 24, including Archie Gray at 18, Georginio Rutter at 22, Crysencio Summerville at 22 and Ethan Ampadu at 23. given what they have achieved.

“It’s hard to criticize our lack of experience when you finish with 90 points and you can see that the result today (Sunday) could have been different,” he said. “Also, the strides players like Cree Summerville, Georgi Rutter, Archie Gray have made (mean) it’s difficult to punish them because they’re inexperienced.

READ MORE: Leeds United are expecting a bye as players fail to make the cut and contract offers are rejected

“I know when it comes to a final like this and also eating, pragmatically, results, experience always helps. I mentioned that (Adam) Armstrong has been in a situation like this before and then he’s not nervous about finishing the situation and not over-motivated, over-excited, just focused and clinical.

“This is why a team like Real Madrid is more or less in every Champions League final. If it was easy with just 18, 19, 20-year-olds to win the league, win the final, every club would do that.”

Farke admits more experience on the pitch in a final like Sunday’s would have helped, including number nine Patrick Bamford, but it wasn’t meant to be. Bringing more experience to the table from August will be one of the German’s aims.

“This is a bit like our DNA,” he said. “We have a pretty young side. We knew before, compared to our competitors at the top of the Championship, we probably had the youngest, most inexperienced squad and we knew it.

“Don’t take anything. We still wanted to get to the Promised Land. If you get deep enough into analysis, a bit more experience would help, yes.

“It would certainly have helped to have Patrick Bamford available for a game like this, but it wasn’t meant to be and for that I’m far from blaming Cree’s inexperience, his Georgie, Archie’s. Rather, yes, we feel disappointed.

“We will also take the positives from the season, but we will also try to work a little bit on the things we can improve. One thing is definitely a little more experience. The players who have been involved will have more experience next season and embrace that because experience always helps.”