Helder Costa has not kicked a ball for Leeds United in nearly two years yet he is still picking up a wage this summer without being a part of Daniel Farke’s plans

Next week will mark the second anniversary of Helder Costa’s last Leeds United appearance. The winger, first signed on loan in 2019 with a £15m obligation 12 months later, is still picking up a wage at Thorp Arch.

The 29-year-old has been pictured in pre-season training with the squad this summer and even travelled to Oslo with the club, but has not featured in any of Daniel Farke’s squads. Costa was painfully conspicuous by his absence from Saturday’s undermanned unit at Birmingham City, where two goalkeepers were named on the bench.

The Angola international may well be getting paid every week, but he’s long since been consigned to the Elland Road scrapheap. There are vague memories of his final contribution in white as he wildly slung a shot into the Norman Hunter Stand against Crewe Alexandra in the EFL Cup.

“Helder, it’s clear,” Farke said on Saturday. “So we were quite open. He was quite open, at any point, he wants to leave the club and there will be a decision.

“So, more or less, from the beginning of pre-season he was not in our plans and we were not in his plan so it’s fair to think there will be a solution.”

Loans to Valencia and Al-Ittihad have at least kept Jorge Mendes’s client busy, but time is ticking on where he is parachuted into next. There are 17 days until the window closes in the UK and Europe, but the Saudi Arabian window, for example, closes on September 20.