MOT View: Player with just 5 Leeds appearances could start v Liverpool after injury to mainstay
Kalvin Phillips is touch-and-go for the first Premier League game back for Leeds United.
If he is missing, it would be a major blow for Leeds as they face a huge test away at Liverpool.
Phillips missed the last three games of the Championship season through a knee injury.
Now, writing on The Athletic, Hay said that it would be a “close” call for the game against Liverpool on September 12.
“He should be close,” Hay said. “Leeds were expecting his recovery to take a maximum of five weeks. It’ll just depend on how his match fitness is doing.”
Phillips suffered his injury in the 1-0 win against Swansea on July 12, the game when the late Pablo Hernandez goal really put Leeds on the road back to the top flight.
It means that he should be ready to take part in full training as of now. That gives him just over three weeks to get himself match fit for the big kick-off.
It means there’s a chance that Phillips will play but if he isn’t able to train fully with the other Leeds players, it might take him longer to reach Bielsa’s required fitness levels.
Bielsa won’t want to rush Phillips back but he’ll also know how important it will be to have him playing against Liverpool.
Tests don’t get much harder than the opening game of the season and, with White back at Brighton, it could mean Pascal Struijk stepping up and playing in Phillips’ spot if he is ruled out.
White has played that role on a number of occasions but it’s looking increasingly unlikely that he’ll be a Leeds player next season.
With Phillips out, Struijk started the last two games of the season in the defensive midfield spot and he put in two very impressive performances, with Leeds winning 3-1 and 4-0 against Derby and Charlton.
However, Liverpool would represent a very different sort of test for the youngster who has only made five appearances total for Leeds.