Leeds United contract update on Stuart Dallas and Liam Cooper after Luke Ayling exit to Middlesbrough – Phil Hay
Stuart Dallas and Liam Cooper are both now expected to leave Leeds United in the summer with no contract extensions likely for either, according to Phil Hay.
Speaking on The Square Ball on 19 January the Athletic journalist says he believes the veteran pair will follow Luke Ayling out of the club, after the right-back left for Middlesbrough during the January transfer window, with it likely that Dallas has already played his last game for the Whites.
Both players, like Ayling, have contracts expiring at the end of the season, while Dallas hasn’t featured at all since breaking his leg against Manchester City in the season before last.
Hay said of a double-summer exit for the veteran duo (11.29am): “Yeah I do think that’ll happen. I’m not expecting contract extensions on that front…
“What are we now? Middle of January, so it really is not far off two years [without Dallas] which is a kind of extraordinary length of time for a player to be out.
“I have to say it’s quite difficult to see Dallas playing for Leeds again because, even at this point, when we ask Farke about it he’s training on his own, there have been intermittent points when he’s joining in with the group, he’s not got onto that steady run of injury comeback that players normally do of gets over it, gets back in the squad, plays a couple of under-21 games, gets back in the mix…
“I think we are definitely coming to the end of that era of player and you’re going to be left now… that the only players left at the end of the season who have [Marcelo] Bielsa links will have been babies when they came in.”
New generation
Daniel Farke made a clear decision on Ayling but has kept captain Cooper in the rotation at centre-back, to the apparent chagrin of Charlie Cresswell.
The manager hasn’t had the luxury of making a choice with Dallas thanks to the drawn-out recovery from the major injury suffered by the Northern Irishman, but it looks like the trio of 32-year-olds will all be gone by next season.
If any of the three were to remain it feels like failure to secure promotion could see the skipper get a one-year extension, to provide some continuity in light of the many players likely to leave in that instance.
And if Cresswell’s stand-off with the manager does lead to Cooper’s presumed heir apparent leaving, as is deemed likely, then it might require a rethink at centre-back.
But this largely feels like a new generation of Leeds United players, with the Bielsa era naturally moving further into the distance.
And should Farke be successful in returning the Whites to the Premier League it will only cement the likelihood of players who were a big part of the previous relegation moving on.
Dallas’ absence was keenly felt last season, and given the continued upheaval at the full-back spots he is proving increasingly missed this year too.
But after so long out it is unlikely that he would be risked in any sort of high-pressure game this term even if he was ready, so his involvement appears to already over.
In other Leeds United news, the player the Whites “really like” this month has been named as the club look to bring people in before the deadline.
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