DANIEL FARKE brushed off wild claims that Jurgen Klopp could REPLACE him at Leeds United.
The ex-Liverpool manager was this week confirmed as Red Bull’s new head of global soccer.
Within hours a report in Germany stated that one of his first tasks was to keep a “close watch” on his compatriot at Leeds, the club Red Bull bought a minority stake in this year.
Farke has lost just one of the opening nine Championship games this term as he looks to go one better than last season’s play-off final defeat and return to the Premier League.
However, after the talk about Klopp and a far-fetched claim that he could perhaps even replace him, Farke insisted he had no concern that his friend would be observing him.
He said: “There are obviously a few Red Bull teams like in Leipzig, Salzburg, New York and so on.
“We are Leeds United and for that it is clear, he has a big impact on the Red Bull clubs and for us not that much.
“We are Leeds United and I think no one of our supporters would allow us to try and copy something or follow a similar philosophy.
“We are a pretty unique club and also have our own values, principles, philosophy, our own way that we want to play.
“As far as I know, this is exactly what the 49ers are standing for. They know how special this club is and they don’t want to copy someone else and for that, we will always be Leeds United.”
Farke is looking to move level on points with second-placed Sheffield United tonight by beating them at Elland Road and bouncing back from the disappointment of conceding a late equaliser at Sunderland a fortnight ago.
The game will see his right-back Jayden Bogle face his former employers for the first time since leaving them for Leeds in the summer.
The 24-year-old said: “It will be an interesting one but I think we just need to make sure that we prepare well and, as I said before, use that fire from the last game going into this game to do the right job.
“It will be tough, just like when any team comes to Elland Road, they try and make it tough and difficult for us. But I think the main thing for us is to focus on ourselves and apply ourselves in the right way, work hard over the next few days in training and approach the game in the right way.”
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