The latest on Jaka Bijol's situation as Leeds United defender left out of squad vs Liverpool

Jaka Bijol is nowhere to be seen in the Leeds United squad that'll take on Liverpool in the USA on Sunday night.

Bijol, 27, was a key player for Daniel Farke last season, playing 31 times across all competitions.

However, the Slovenia international was a key omission when Leeds' starting line-up against Liverpool was announced prior to kick-off at Chicago's Soldier Field.

It means that Bijol will go the entire tour of the USA without playing a single minute for the Yorkshire giants, who have already played Wrexham and Sunderland in North American within the last week.

Bijol missed Leeds' defeat to Wrexham last Sunday with a knock to his knee, according to the Yorkshire Evening Post.

However, that knock has now led to him missing three games.

Should Leeds be worried about Jaka Bijol's absence?

Bijol took a while to get going last season after his £15million move to Elland Road.

In his debut, he was part of the side that lost to Sheffield Wednesday in the Carabao Cup in August, with Farke not calling on the ex-Udinese centre-back again until late October.

A minor muscle injury in January kept him sidelined for a few games, but he was otherwise a vital cog in the defence that not only managed to avoid relegation to the Championship, but also reached the FA Cup semi-finals.

Ultimately, Leeds don't want any of their key players to be having any kind of injury and while the word from the club is that it's only a knock, a three-game absence suggests it's more than that.

However, these are just pre-season games and it's very likely that Farke and the Leeds medical team don't want to be taking any chances in a friendly game.

What is Leeds' starting XI vs Liverpool?

Even though Bijol isn't involved, Farke has opted to play a very defensive team with Jayden Bogle, James Justin, Joe Rodon, Tarik Muharemovic and Gabriel Gudmundsson all starting.

Ethan Ampadu, Ao Tanka and Anton Stach make up the midfield, with Daniel James and Lukas Nmecha in attack.

Alex Cairns - Leeds' only senior goalkeeper - starts in between the sticks against a Liverpool side boasting Alexander Isak, Florian Wirtz and Dominik Szoboszlai.

It remains to be seen how Cairns will get on, with MOT Leeds News covering regular updates on James Trafford's delayed move to the Yorkshire club.