‘What I understand…’ – BBC journalist shares major Leeds injury update on Liam Cooper
Adam Pope has claimed that Leeds United captain Liam Cooper could return from injury for the FA Cup clash against Crawley on Sunday afternoon.
The BBC journalist has admitted that he has heard updates claiming that the skipper has recovered from his abdominal strain.
Cooper has been missing since the 6-2 defeat against Manchester United in December and has missed three Premier League fixtures.
Speaking on the BBC’s West Yorkshire Sport Daily, Pope shared the major injury update on the Leeds defence ahead of the FA Cup.
“I think they will get centre-backs back before too long, hopefully,” he said.
“I do think there’s every chance that Cooper might be ready for this weekend, from what I understand.”
No need to risk Cooper?
Marcelo Bielsa will be scratching his head over this one. On one hand, it’s the perfect opportunity for his captain to regain his fitness, but on the other, it’s a great chance to give him an extra week’s break before the Brighton clash.
We believe it would be best to leave Cooper back home and explore some options from the under-23s against the League Two side.
In the Carabao Cup clash with Hull back in September, Bielsa played Leif Davis and Charlie Cresswell at the heart of his defence.
Now that Ezgjan Alioski is in the first-team regularly, we expect Pascal Struijk to come in and Davis to move to left-back – after all, the Dutch colossus should be replaced by Cooper for the Brighton game.
Either way, this is a good headache to have for once.
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