Leeds handed massive fitness boost after injury blow v Man United – confirmed
Leeds United lost Liam Cooper to injury late on against Man United and, after the game, Marcelo Bielsa said he wasn’t sure of the extent of the problem.
However, Leeds did get a massive boost when he said that Diego Llorente would be back in training from today.
That gives him a good chance of being fit for the next game against Burnley on December 27.
As quoted on Leeds Live, Bielsa delivered the fitness updates on Cooper and Llorente in his post-match press conference.
“No, I don’t know the severity of Cooper’s injury and Llorente will start to train with us from tomorrow,” Bielsa said.
Tough start for Llorente
Llorente has had a really tough start to his Leeds career, after picking up an injury while on international duty.
That meant he had to wait until the Chelsea game to make his debut, when Robin Koch was taken off after just nine minutes of the game.
Bielsa had hoped to play Llorente in the Under-23s first but had his hand forced because of the Koch injury.
However, Llorente was injured again after that game and has missed the last three games.
Koch is out until spring after undergoing surgery and an injury to Cooper would leave Leeds really light at the back.
That’s why getting Llorente back is so big.
Bielsa won’t want to rush him back again and it’s possible that he won’t start the Burnley game even if Cooper is ruled out.
That would see a makeshift backline with Luke Ayling and Pascal Struijk likely to be tasked with marshalling things at the back.
What that says to us is that Leeds really need to go back into the market in January to get a replacement for Koch.
Bielsa had said that he didn’t want to bring in another centre-back but if Cooper is out for any length of time then he might have his hand forced again.
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