Leeds United manager Marcelo Bielsa has confirmed the club have been handed a hammer blow when it comes to a pair of defenders with both Gaetano Berardi and Liam Cooper ruled out until the end of January.
The centre back hobbled off in the first half of the win over Sheffield United while the full back has not been seen since suffering a hamstring injury in October.
The English-born defender was reported by journalist Phil Hay to be facing up to six weeks on the sidelines but it is worse feared, with Bielsa revealing it would be more like eight weeks before he was available once again with the setback worse than first feared.
Speaking at his press conference about injuries, as broadcast live on the LUTV app: “For Berardi and Liam Cooper, the end of January or beginning or February.”
Opinion
When it rains, it absolutely buckets it down at Leeds United. They simply cannot get a break this season – unless you are willing to count Jamal Blackman’s severe injury blow – when it comes to the amount of players laid off and it is more often than not a severe blow which keeps them sidelined. The astounding thing is how Bielsa has managed to overcome the numerous problems and continued the club’s push for a promotion spot come the end of the season. The quality of youngster coming through the youth system at Elland Road is something else and the club should be very proud of the job that they are doing. Still, relying on youngsters to fill gaps in the first team is not what Bielsa would have wanted and there are some serious gaps starting to show in his paper thin squad. Any more serious injuries could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back and Bielsa needs to manage his side carefully over a demanding festive period to minimise any chance of serious problems arising.