David Woods

Tue 13 October 2020 13:40, UK

It looks like Leeds United are going to be without both Liam Cooper and Diego Llorente for the Premier League game against Wolves on Monday.

Both have picked up groin injuries with Llorente out for three weeks. Cooper is said to be out for up to two weeks and although Leeds haven’t ruled him out of Monday’s game, he must be very unlikely to make it.

It means that 21-year-old centre-back Pascal Struik is set to get a big chance to prove himself again after a baptism of fire in the Premier League against Liverpool.

Cooper missed that game, too, and it meant that Struijk partnered Robin Koch in the centre of the Leeds defence.

Leeds conceded four goals but two of them were penalties and one of them was harsh.

Struijk impressed us a lot in the game, looking composed despite it being just his third senior start.

He’d also never played alongside Koch, and it was the German’s debut for the club.

Given all of that, we’re not concerned about Struijk making what would be just his fourth senior start for the club and his second in the Premier League at Elland Road on Monday.

We’d actually prefer that to Cooper being rushed back and missing more games if he aggravates his groin strain.

Leeds might have been unlucky to see both Cooper and Llorente get struck down at the same time, but having Struijk as second back-up at centre-back shows that the club now has real quality in depth.

However, if Koch picks up an injury playing for Germany tonight, we’d be concerned. After Struijk comes Oliver Casey and we think Bielsa would rejig rather than start the 19-year-old at the moment.

We have to confess we were slightly concerned about Struijk starting against Liverpool. We won’t have the same worry on Monday.

In other Leeds United news, ‘What we’re learning’ – Alex Crook claims Leeds plotting major midfielder move in January