Daniel Farke has a hugely-expensive issue to contend with after his Leeds United side were beaten 2-0 by Bournemouth on Saturday afternoon.

The result made it five games without a victory in the Premier League as form continues to fall away following a strong start to the campaign.

Goals from Evanilson and Amine Adli secured the points on the south coast, with the deadlock broken in the 31st minute after goalkeeper James Trafford's terrible error handed the Brazilian the opportunity on a plate, passing straight to Justin Kluivert who squared for a finish into an open goal.

Leeds stayed in the game until stoppage time when Adli made the result safe, and events may have turned out very differently if Dominic Calvert-Lewin's early opener, following excellent interplay between Jayden Bogle, James Justin, and Harry Wilson, hadn't been ruled out for handball after a lengthy VAR review.

But Trafford's error proved to be the key incident in the game, injecting belief into the hosts and handing his teammates a mountain they were ultimately unable to climb.

Trafford error hands Bournemouth initiative against Leeds

Trafford, the club's record signing from Manchester City in the summer, has been the clear number one at Elland Road since his arrival and has kept three clean sheets already.

But both of the league defeats Leeds have suffered so far have come off the back of mistakes by the England international. Arsenal came from behind to win 2-1 at the Emirates on 10 October when his error allowed them to equalise.

Reacting to Trafford's latest indiscretion at the Vitality this weekend, ex-Celtic captain Scott Brown said on BBC Sport Final Score: "I don't know what James Trafford is doing. I'm a big fan of the build-up, but that's not it when you pass straight to a Bournemouth player. It's the easiest goal they've scored this season. Trafford has had a shocker. It's been a good period for Leeds and then to lose a goal like that, it's disappointing for Leeds."

United have otherwise put together one of the best defensive records in the Premier League, coming into the weekend conceding just six times and trailing only the reigning champions in that regard.

But that has now been undercut more than once by Trafford, and if such a trend continues, Farke is going to have a huge decision to make on possibly taking the 24-year-old out of the lineup.

The German will know how important it is to manage this situation correctly, having presided over the tail end of Illan Meslier's alarming decline at Elland Road, who went from presumed star of the future to having his confidence entirely shot before quietly departing in the summer.

Farke's passionate press conference plea to take the pressure off of Jean-Matteo Bahoya's shoulders in midweek shows he takes such matters seriously, and with goalkeepers more than any other position the call to take one out of the side or let them continue to make mistakes is a heavy one.

Meslier lost his place to Joel Robles, Karl Darlow, and Lucas Perri in recent years, although none made the position their own, and the initial £40 million deal to land Trafford was supposed to have fixed a problem position for Leeds.

Trafford issues raise worrying Meslier memories

Trafford had been relegated to second choice at City within weeks of his arrival from Burnley when Pep Guardiola signed Gianluigi Donnarumma, so it was seen as something of a surprise for the Manchester club to make somewhere in the region of £10m in profit after just a year.

High-profile errors will do nothing to dispel that feeling, and it would be fairly embarrassing for Farke and 49ers Enterprises if the manager is forced to drop their marquee signing from the starting XI, but it will become something he has to consider if problems persist.

Complicating matters further is the fact that Trafford has at times looked excellent aside from the mistakes, but that means little if he throws away a performance by handing the opponents the initiative.

Justin's strike at Arsenal in the lunchtime kick-off coming out of the previous international break had Leeds in the ascendency against an undercooked home side, but when Trafford could only flap Riccardo Calafiori's header into his own net it shocked the champions into gear and they duly went on to find a winner.

A further issue for Farke is that this season's second choice Michael Zetterer, himself a summer arrival from Eintracht Frankfurt, has only started once for the club so far in what was undoubtedly the worst defensive showing of the campaign, a 6-3 defeat at Chelsea in the Carabao Cup.

The attack needs to re-find form as well but a strong defence has been compromised by the big-money man behind them twice, which will surely be causing the manager considerable concern.