Ethan Ampadu makes ‘lonely’ Leeds United admission
Ethan Ampadu has shared that Ilia Gruev has been the Leeds United teammate who has helped him the most during his “lonely” recovery from injury.
The midfielder suffered a knee injury in the Whites’ game against Coventry City in September and hasn’t yet made his way back to full fitness, but he is nearing a return.
Speaking to BBC Radio Leeds (14 November), Ampadu opened up on his recovery and delved into how the Bulgaria international has helped him throughout his stint on the sidelines.
“It’s going well. Recovery can have its ups and downs but I feel like it’s going fairly well at the moment,” he said.
“There’s a bit of time, a bit of healing that still needs to be done but it’s going well, I’m happy about it, I’m positive about it so the sooner obviously for me, the better”.
“We’re helping each other (Ampadu and Ilia Gruev). There can be some quite lonely days when you’re doing rehab and obviously you don’t want to wish there’s another player with you but that’s the situation we’re in.
“We pick each other up and we’re both hard-working individuals so I think that was natural that it was going to happen”.
Why Leeds United don’t need Ethan Ampadu to rush back to fitness
When the severity of the Welshman’s injury was first announced by Daniel Farke, everyone involved with the club went into panic mode.
What also didn’t help matters much is the fact that in Leeds’ very next game, Gruev also found himself injured which left the West Yorkshire outfit incredibly light in the centre of the park.
Indeed, Farke did fortunately bring in both Joe Rothwell and Ao Tanaka during the summer but as they hadn’t played much since the start of the season, fans didn’t know what to expect.
However, after playing a few games with the Englishman and the Japan international in midfield, things are going fairly smoothly for the Whites.
Ampadu is obviously a key cog in Farke’s machine but there’s no need for him to rush back until he’s 100 per cent fit.
New arrival Josuha Guilavogui can also help cover if needed so in reality, the Whites are now fairly stacked when it comes to midfield options.
The main thing is getting the Welshman back fully fit and ensuring that the injury doesn’t reoccur.
In other Leeds news, Adam Pope has shared a Leeds United “circus” verdict after their 2-0 win over QPR.
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