‘Leeds intend…’ – Phil Hay delivers significant Whites update after restart set for June 20
Phil Hay has said that “Leeds intend to carry out contact training in the days ahead” at Thorp Arch.
That comes after the Championship provisionally agreed a June 20 restart date on Sunday night.
The next EFL meeting is set for June 8, when votes will happen on guidelines set out for ending the season early.
There was a fear that contact training wouldn’t be approved until then – and with the season starting on June 20, that would only have given Marcelo Bielsa two weeks of contact training with his men.
However, in a Q&A on The Athletic on Sunday night, Hay said that Leeds had been sent risk assessment forms by the EFL last week.
“If the EFL was satisfied that clubs who returned them could resume contact training safely, it was due to begin from this week,” Hay said. “Leeds intend to carry out contract training in the days ahead.”
Everything is falling into place for Leeds United.
The players looked fit when they returned to Thorp Arch last Monday. And it looks like things are set to get ramped up quickly.
If the Championship does start again on June 20 then there’s not much time for contact training. Some managers had been asking for six weeks, four weeks seemed to be the consensus and that’s what Premier League players are going to get.
They returned to contact training last week before delivering zero positives in the last round of Coronavirus testing.
The Championship hasn’t got that much wriggle-room and Leeds will actually have less than three weeks of contact training.
That could mean that injuries play a fairly big part in the season and Bielsa and his staff will have to manage sessions carefully – the last thing they’ll want is to lose anyone before the season even starts.
The EFL is discussing the use of 20-man squads and five substitutes for the rest of this season and that could help.
However, Bielsa much prefers a set, small group of players and this won’t necessarily fit in with his tactics.
However, the important thing is that the Leeds players will hit the turf at Elland Road again – all of the potential issues are just detail at the moment.
In other Leeds United news, Heartbreaking: Karren Brady backtracks on null & void, shares big PL reveal Leeds fans will love