Leeds United goalkeeper Jamal Blackman screamed in pain after suffering an agonising injury during the club’s Under-23s clash against Birmingham City on Friday afternoon.
The on-loan Chelsea shot-stopper was stretchered off with an aircast on his right leg after a Birmingham player lunged for the ball in the penalty area late in the Professional Development League fixture at United’s Thorp Arch training headquarters.
Yorkshire Evening Post correspondent Joe Urquhart reported on his personal Twitter account that it was a “really nasty tackle” and it “looks bad” for Blackman.
https://twitter.com/JoeUrquhartYEP/status/1063442629189402629
https://twitter.com/JoeUrquhartYEP/status/1063443181734412288
OPINION
Has another player joined Leeds’ mounting injury list? That appears to be the case, in what sounds like a sickening injury for Blackman, who was playing as an over-age performer for the Under-23s in their latest fixture. The 25-year-old would have gone into the youth-team match with high hopes of forcing his way into the senior starting XI following Bailey Peacock-Farrell’s latest iffy display in last weekend’s hammering at West Brom. On-loan Blackman is yet to start a league match for Leeds since joining in the summer on a season-long loan, and the chances of him doing so in the immediate future now look rather remote. What a shame for the giant keeper, who had such an impressive loan spell at Sheffield United last season. It remains to be seen how serious the damage sustained by Blackman but the initial reports suggest he could be facing a lengthy spell on the sidelines.