How Gabriel Gudmundsson's comments prove Daniel Farke is building something special at Leeds
Leeds United left-back Gabriel Gudmundsson has finally addressed an injury rumour that took over social media in the summer.
The Sweden international has proven to be a key member of Daniel Farke's squad after his £10million move from Lille in 2025.
He played a regular role at left-back to begin last season before taking a further step up as a wing-back in the changed system.
That allowed his impact to become more clear to everyone at Elland Road.
It is exactly why the LS11 faithful was left gutted when rumours emerged in pre-season that he had ruptured his ACL.
Gudmundsson hadn't done so and has now revealed exactly how that impacted Thorp Arch.
Brenden Aaronson hit by Gabriel Gudmundsson injury hoax
There were bizarre rumours that the Swede was set to be out for six to eight months of this campaign.
It was said to have happened against Liverpool in a pre-season friendly.
He did actually go off injured in that game, but it was later confirmed to be a short-term hamstring issue.
Farke quickly cleared up the rumours at the time, but it still managed to take a toll on Brenden Aaronson.
Speaking with Swedish outlet Fotbollskanalen, Gudmundsson has revealed an insight to what happened at Thorp Arch.
He said: "Brenden Aaronson, a teammate (at Leeds), called me in the afternoon and was like, 'What the hell is going on?' I said, 'What do you mean?' He said, 'The knee.'
"He linked to someone on social media writing that it was the knee, seven-eight months. I don't know, sometimes you shouldn't trust too much what is written. It is what it is, it wasn't true.
"It's sad that it's like that. It's better if everything is true, but it's clear that some people want to come out and get 'views'. It's sad.
"My body feels good, I'm ready. There's no problem."
This may all seem quite trivial to some, but is actually proof of something that every manager across world football will want in their squad, and Farke has it in spades.
Leeds United have money can't buy advantage thanks to Daniel Farke
There have been so many teams in the Premier League that have failed despite having quality to burn.
Big names like Joe Cole, Xherdan Shaqiri, Julio Cesar and Paolo Di Canio have all been relegated to the Championship, despite all playing at a high level throughout their careers.
That came thanks, in part, to a lack of dressing room unity that can ultimately halt a team from hitting the heights expected of them.
Leicester City are the perfect example of when it works and when it doesn't.
Premier League champions in 2015/16 with arguably the most unified squad the division has ever seen, then relegated to League One last season with a side full of issues.
Leeds need to be a group who want to play for each other and genuinely care for their teammates.
Aaronson being so concerned and worried immediately after hearing a rumour about Gudmundsson is just one example of how that is working in their favour.
That has to be down to Farke and the mentality he has been able to install into his squad at Elland Road.
Money can't buy that sort of attitude and it could be the difference between a bottom half finish and a push towards European qualification places.