One source with knowledge of the inner workings of Leeds explained the issue the club had on their last three-year stay in the Premier League was that then-owner Andrea Radrizzani just didn’t have the funds to kick on.

Radrizzani’s shares were bought by the 49ers Enterprises when they took over Leeds in the summer of 2023, The investment arm of the American football franchise San Francisco 49ers is also attempting to buy a significant stake in Glasgow Rangers.

They proved that they have the finance by methodically working through what has been described as the massive ‘credit card bill’ of instalment payments for transfers from a sizeable churn of players in and out of Elland Road.

Doubtless they will have a plan for this summer and beyond.

However, there are two issues that are inescapable.

Firstly, Leeds are hamstrung by the knowledge two seasons in the EFL slices £44m off the maximum £105m three-year loss limit that applies to the rest of the Premier League.

And beyond that, how much will survival actually cost?

For the second year running, the three teams that were promoted from the Championship are looking likely to go straight back down.

Two of them, Leicester and Southampton, have far more recent top flight experience than Leeds. Their struggles prove jumping up from the Championship – even with the benefit of parachute payments – is one thing, staying there is another matter entirely.

Leeds clearly need at least one striker. They sold Georginio Rutter to Brighton for £40m in August, which sets a benchmark for a decent Premier League forward.

When you start adding in creative midfielders, full-backs and a goalkeeper – Illan Meslier added another mistake to this season’s ‘crime sheet’ by scoring an own goal to give Sheffield United the lead on Monday – the millions rack up.

Two of Farke’s mainstays, Joe Rothwell and Manor Solomon, are on loan and will need to be bought or replaced, so the bill for a decent shot at survival is going to be astronomical.