Neil Warnock today signed Stoke City midfielder Michael Tonge on loan until December.

Tonge, 29 – who played under Warnock at Sheffield United – said: “It makes it easier when you know the manager because he knows what type of player you are. It will make it easier to settle in.

“I’d have jumped at the chance to come here whatever but with the gaffer I had no hesitation.”

Tonge’s arrival bolsters Leeds’ depleted central midfield.

David Norris has joined Paul Green on the sidelines and Michael Brown is carrying a hamstring strain, leaving Leeds painfully thin in the engine room.