Daniel Farke lifts lid on Liam Cooper’s Leeds United future as January Elland Road exit mooted
Daniel Farke has lifted the lid on Liam Cooper’s future at Leeds United, suggesting that the Whites’ defender won’t follow Luke Ayling out of Elland Road this month.
Ayling ended an eight-year stay with the Whites on Wednesday (10 January) as he joined Championship rivals Middlesbrough for the second half of the season having only played a bit part role under Farke’s management.
While Cooper is also entering the final six months of his contract at Elland Road, Farke has insisted that the Scotsman’s situation is very different to Ayling’s and has all but ruled out a January exit for the defender.
As quoted by Leeds Live (12 January) he said: “Contract-wise it’s the same situation, that’s right, but it was definitely, in the recent weeks, also a different scenario because Luke was sometimes struggling even to make it into the gameday squad and Liam was always involved and has also played all the recent games.
“So for that, it’s a different scenario. He’s slightly younger than Luke and he has also played a lot. In this age, it’s also important when you also play for a new contract and want to present yourself, you get game time and minutes and this is what Liam gets at the moment.
“For that, in this case, it’s definitely, a different scenario and yes, we are all happy we have Liam and we hope he can return as soon as possible back to be available.”
Different situation
It is clear that Cooper’s situation at Leeds United is completely different to Ayling’s at Elland Road, even if the Scotsman’s current contract situation appears to be exactly the same as the now Middlesbrough defender.
Cooper has recently worked his way back into contention for a starting berth at Elland Road after an injury to Pascal Struijk, having missed a large chunk of the campaign through injury himself, and has impressed when named in the starting XI.
Whether or not that will mean that the Whites will extend Cooper’s contract come the end of the season remains to be seen, but it seems clear that Farke won’t allow his skipper to leave in the middle of the season and follow Ayling’s path.
Cooper could well be playing for his Leeds future over the next few months and it will be interesting to see whether he does enough to earn a new contract from Farke.
In other Leeds United news, details have emerged over the details surrounding Darko Gyabi’s loan deal away from Elland Road