Phil Hay details update on Cooper & Llorente after Leeds duo suffer int’l injury setbacks
Liam Cooper and Diego Llorente are due back at Leeds United to undergo assessment after suffering injuries while on international duty, according to The Athletic journalist Phil Hay.
Spain confirmed on Sunday that Llorente, 27, suffered a muscle injury in training ahead of their trip to Ukraine on Tuesday night with an image of the ex-Real Sociedad centre-back appearing to show him holding his groin.
Later on Sunday, Scotland boss Steve Clarke ruled Cooper, 29, out of his side’s matches against Slovakia and the Czech Republic but didn’t specify what the injury was.
Both Llorente and Cooper had played once for their countries before the news of the double injury blow emerged on Sunday and both players impressed for their respective nations.
Llorente managed to keep Cristiano Ronaldo quiet in Spain’s 0-0 draw with Portugal on Wednesday before Cooper played 120 minutes of Scotland’s Euro 2021 qualifying play-off against Israel.
Scotland went on to win in a penalty shoot-out after normal time and extra time ended goalless.
Cooper missed the first match of the Premier League season after suffering an injury during the last international break when he was with Scotland.
If Scotland don’t do a better job of keeping Cooper fit then it’s going to lead to a dispute between Leeds and the Scottish FA.
While we understand that the match against Israel was a massive one and a player of Cooper’s quality needed to play the entire 120 minutes, Clarke and his team should have done a better job of keeping him fit.
According to Hay, Cooper’s injury sounds as though it’s a muscle one – like Llorente’s – but Leeds are yet to establish how long both players are going to be missed for.
One saving grace for the Whites is that they have another week until they play against Wolves in the Premier League on Monday night.
Let’s hope that seven days of recovery is enough for the two centre-backs.
In other Leeds United news, England fans have reacted to Kalvin Phillips’ display against Belgium.