The final two days of any transfer window will always provoke demand from a football club’s terraces. There is always more talent that can be added, more money which can be spent.

The conversation circling Leeds United had been centred on attackers over the past week — and then their indestructible centre-back limped off in the final match before Tuesday’s deadline. Central defence had not attracted too much debate since Nico Elvedi replaced Sebastiaan Bornauw (who moved to SV Hamburg on a season-long loan), but Joe Rodon’s hamstring injury waves a red flag.

If Leeds finish the window with the 22 senior players they have, are they sufficiently stocked until January? Are there enough players in defence and is there enough quality in attack?

Daniel Farke’s attention seemed to be on the back end of the team when asked after the match about how suitable the current group is if it remains unchanged.

“In terms of outfield players, the group is not too big,” he said. “Also, we had all players fit today and you still see senior centre-back options, wing-back options; we don’t have the most.

“For that, we will stay awake until Tuesday night to make sure we have one or two more additions, which would definitely be helpful. With the players I’ve got, I’m very happy.

“Today we found, even with this squad, good solutions against a very good Brentford side, to be competitive again and also to find a way to stay unbeaten. This was important.”

Like any sensible manager, the German covered himself. The recruitment department will remain attentive and reinforcements would be welcome, but he’s also happy with what he has in the building.

He’s right when it comes to defence. Before this season, Rodon had missed only three of 129 league games through injury. That dates back to August 2023. Everyone will have their fingers crossed that his hamstring injury does not rule him out for long, but the starker question is: What if one of the other defenders is injured at the same time?

Rodon’s injury might cause Leeds to react in the transfer market (Molly Darlington/Getty Images)

Elvedi slotted in without any issues on Sunday. But behind him there are no natural, senior options waiting in the wings. Ethan Ampadu can slot in, of course. So too can James Justin, but they are currently needed elsewhere.

Taking Ampadu out of midfield is counter-productive. That leaves Justin, but what about the wing-back positions? He is the only natural, senior option covering both flanks there, too.

Gabriel Gudmundsson returned to the bench on Sunday and might be ready to relieve Justin when needed, but it all feels quite desperate and stretched. The club would effectively be gambling on never having more than one injury in defence at any one time.

Bringing in a wing-back therefore seems sensible before Tuesday’s deadline. Before the Brentford game, however, the chat around Elland Road was not optimistic on that front. Over the course of the past week, goalkeeper Michael Zetterer aside (who signed from Eintracht Frankfurt on a three-year deal), noises from the club suggested that, if there was to be any more incoming business, it would be for one attacker.

Mykhailo Mudryk is the attacking target in the public domain. No other legitimate names have come to the fore in attack, or in any other position, for that matter. Sunday’s events might change perspectives.

If Leeds do choose to go with what they have until the January window, they will need to keep seeing impact from the bench in the way they did on Sunday. Lukas Nmecha and Daniel James changed the flow of the second half and were ultimately involved in Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s equaliser.

The scorer himself reminded everyone of his importance. He makes it look a simple task, three yards from goal, and Calvert-Lewin is pivotal to this team’s success. As it stands, his only natural stand-in is Nmecha, who does not knit play or hold the ball up as well, but showed he can make an impact.

He thrived in this return to a 3-5-2 shape. Nmecha and Calvert-Lewin memorably played well as a pair in last December’s 3-1 demolition of Chelsea. Farke’s pivot from 3-4-2-1 to 4-1-2-3 to 3-5-2 showed his and the team’s adaptability on Sunday.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin celebrates with team-mates after scoring against Brentford (Molly Darlington/Getty Images)

They will need to find creative solutions to keep picking up points this season, especially if the window does pass without any extra attacking flair. James built on Tuesday’s performance at Nottingham Forest in the Carabao Cup with another promising display.

He would expect to have finished better in one or two situations, but his pace, energy and close control asked different questions in the final third, including the build-up to the equaliser. If Mudryk or an alternative does not materialise, Farke has to hope a combination of James, Harry Wilson, Brenden Aaronson, Noah Okafor and Wilfried Gnonto can pop up in different moments with the keys to unlock opponents.

On this occasion, where Aaronson and Okafor struggled, James stepped up. Next week it might be Wilson’s turn or Gnonto’s the week after that. The team needs to continue to be adaptable; as does Farke with his tactics.

This was an excellent Brentford team, one that left a confident Leeds and optimistic Elland Road stunned at the half-time break. United cages have not been rattled like that in a while, but they responded, rolled with the punches and found an answer with their backs against the wall.

Since last season, they have traded Joel Piroe for Wilson in attack. Do they think that one upgrade is enough to find solutions as they did on Sunday, but for several months? And in the meantime, do they hope the injuries are kept at bay to keep five recognised defenders on the field?

Answers will come by Tuesday night.

The message was clear, loud and passionate.

“Don’t sell Armstrong! Don’t sell Armstrong! I just don’t think you understand,” the away end sang at Bournemouth. “If you sell Armstrong, Harrison Armstrong, you’re gonna have a riot on your hands.”

The news that prompted this outpouring, as broken by The Athletic earlier on Saturday, was that 19-year-old midfielder Armstrong, the finest player produced by Everton’s youth academy in years, was close to a move to Nottingham Forest. Wary of breaching squad cost ratio rules (SCR), the club’s leadership were reluctantly willing to sanction the England youth international’s exit for some £40million.

Everton owner and chairman Dan Friedkin was not present at this weekend’s game on the south coast. Physical attendance was not a prerequisite for understanding the depth of anger felt by a fanbase at the prospect of their top talent’s departure — a pain particularly keenly felt by the notion of a club who finished lower-mid-table last season, rather than a member of the ‘Big Six’, taking away that jewel.

Armstrong is one of the most promising Everton academy graduates in years (Peter Tarry/PA Images via Getty Images)

Friedkin and the club’s leadership spent much of Saturday locked in discussions. That evening, they accepted a written offer from Forest, giving the teenager permission to travel to the East Midlands for a medical. The decision was made — until it was not.

Early on Sunday morning, The Athletic reported that Everton had opted to pull out of the deal — citing Armstrong’s importance to the club’s project — a move that in turn blindsided Forest’s decision-makers, who were convinced they had landed their top target.

Had the Bournemouth game not taken place, giving Everton supporters the platform to vent their frustrations, Armstrong would likely be posing for photos holding a Garibaldi-red Forest shirt now. Instead, he will remain in the royal blue of Everton.

For all of the owners’ billions, the episode shows that fan power remains in the Premier League — and represents somewhat of a marker.

Over the past three years, dozens of academy players have left their home clubs because of their outsized financial importance to those teams — because these youngsters are not signed for a fee, which then has to be amortised against any sale, their exits represent “pure profit” to the selling side.

Forest had exploited before, signing Elliot Anderson from Newcastle United in summer 2024 on a cut-price deal, with the Tyneside club desperate to sell to avoid a significant penalty from the Premier League for breaching its financial regulations. The City Ground brains trust saw Armstrong as the new Anderson — in more ways than one.

Anderson was sold by Newcastle to Forest for £35million in 2024 before joining City for £116m this summer (Carl Recine/Getty Images)

But the examples of these players are numerous, and their absences diminish something of the club at which they were schooled. Jacob Ramsey’s move from Aston Villa to Newcastle; Conor Gallagher of Chelsea joining Atletico Madrid. Alongside Anderson leaving Newcastle, these three deals, in total, represent sales of £110million combined. All three, at the time, were deeply unpopular among the fanbases they left behind.

The Everton supporters’ protests in Bournemouth were a symbol that things do not have to be this way.

That said, the unintended consequence of them, discovered a few hours after Armstrong’s future was resolved, is that Senegal international winger Iliman Ndiaye, the club’s key creative force in the past two seasons, will now join Tottenham Hotspur for some £60million.

More than half the Premier League’s clubs are now American-owned — a sporting culture in which, by contrast to English football, fans wield far less influence. Franchises are moved from one city to another (more than once in some cases); supporter groups have limited recourse by which to protest against ticket-price rises; there are no examples of a fanbase preventing a team from signing or drafting a player.

Two years ago, The Friedkin Group discovered the flipside.

The American consortium also owns Serie A side Roma, a club who, like Everton, boast some of the most vocal and demonstrative supporters in their league.

In September 2024, they decided to sack manager Daniele De Rossi, a club legend from his days as a player, just three months after extending his contract. The Curva Sud at Rome’s Stadio Olimpico, home of their ultras, responded by boycotting the first 30 minutes of the following game.

“You don’t respect our values and our flags,” the group wrote on a banner. “From today, we return to the old ways.”

“Yankee go home,” read another.

Everton’s protests over Armstrong never reached that level of ferocity — but perhaps it was the memory of those months at Roma that provoked the owners’ unprecedented decision to pull out of the deal with Forest in the final moments.

Had the England youth international’s departure been confirmed, The Friedkin Group would have lost virtually all the credibility it had built up since stabilising the club over the past couple of years following Farhad Moshiri’s turbulent near-decade of ownership.

Because for all the security they had provided to Everton, there is a certain logic to player sales (or the prospect of them) that is felt rather than calculated.

Homegrown players have an outsized financial importance to a club, but also an outsized emotional importance; the presence of a local player is the string between the team and the fans. It is some shift from the big four American sports and their college draft systems that largely erase such geographical concerns.

That connection between supporters and the fabric of their club is fragile these days, made of gossamer and tissue-paper rather than steel. Its preservation in this instance deserves to be celebrated.

Djokovic made a promising start as he broke Navone’s serve at the first attempt for a 2-0 lead, only to see that advantage wiped out in the seventh game as he begin to struggle in the humid conditions.

The catalyst for the former world number one’s troubles appeared to be a lengthy rally which sapped him of energy and left him struggling to recover.

A flustered-looking Djokovic seemed to drop speed in both his serve and groundstrokes as the first set continued, calling out the doctor after the ninth game for some tablets to help alleviate what was bothering him.

Djokovic continued to look distressed as the opener moved into the tie-break – wearily bowing his head and bending over double between points – as Navone maintained his focus to strike first after one hour and 13 minutes.

As Djokovic toiled, an eerie hush fell around Arthur Ashe Stadium which indicated the crowd’s growing concern for the four-time champion.

So often Djokovic has found a way to win in moments of adversity. Was this going to be another example?

The physical problems did continue to linger, but Djokovic perked up enough – seemingly helped by the cooler conditions under the roof – to create the only break points of a finely-poised second set.

After missing chances in the third and fifth games, he dug deep to strike for a 6-5 lead and served out to love as he levelled the match.

Djokovic becoming more animated in the early part of third set was a surefire sign he was starting to feel more like his old self – although not for too long.

With the set locked on serve at 3-3, Djokovic looked unsteady on his feet again before pouncing on a poor service game from Navone to break for 5-4 and holding serve to move into the lead.

These are the positions from which prime Djokovic would usually go on to win, even when he was struggling physically.

The fact he was unable to do that against Navone, who has never gone past the second round in New York, was another indication of his declining powers.

What had been a tight match quickly ran away from Djokovic and became a difficult watch for the thousands still inside Ashe with local time fast approaching midnight.

The atmosphere became increasingly subdued again as it became obvious Djokovic was not going to be able to wriggle out of trouble on this occasion.