Sam Greenwood also ruled out of Leeds United v Newcastle
Leeds United will welcome a few players back from injuries when they take on Newcastle United at Elland Road on Saturday, Marcelo Bielsa confirmed on Thursday afternoon.
Speaking at the start of his press conference on Thursday [20 January], Bielsa told the media that Patrick Bamford, Junior Firpo and Adam Forshaw will not be available to play against the Magpies.
He then added later, as shown on Leeds’ official Twitter account, that Greenwood, 19, is also unavailable as well as a few long-term absentees like Kalvin Phillips and Liam Cooper.
In more positive news, Bielsa, as quoted by LeedsLive, said that Tyler Roberts and Joe Gelhardt are now available while Rodrigo is still fit.
“It’s likely for this game we are going to count on Roberts, with Gelhardt and Rodrigo Moreno,” said the Leeds United boss.
“The players out of the squad in that position are going to be Patrick and Greenwood.”
Short of options
Bielsa is going to find it tough to put a team together to play Newcastle United but the news of Gelhardt and Roberts coming back into the side is a massive boost.
It means that there will at least be some strength in depth on the bench while in another boost, Diego Llorente will be back from his one-match ban for accumulated bookings.
In that case, Bielsa should be able to put together a strong side but it will mean that players like Stuart Dallas and Robin Koch may have to play out of position.
It also strengthens the need to make more additions in this January transfer window and with ongoing issues to Bamford, a new striker wouldn’t go amiss.
Greenwood and Gelhardt are great young strikers – but they aren’t really players who Bielsa wants to name in his starting line-up just yet.
Loan moves would be ideal for them, but only if a new striker is brought in to strengthen Bielsa’s attack.
And then there’s the midfield. We’re sick of saying that Leeds need to add to their midfield and hopefully a deal can be concluded very soon.
In other Leeds United news, Leeds have been told to pay over £6million to sign a “terrific” player who’s been tipped to move on.