Leeds United striker Patrick Bamford suffered a second torn knee ligament, it has been confirmed.
United medical chief Rob Price has revealed the £7million signing ruptured ligaments in the same knee in which he suffered a posterior cruciate ligament injury in September.
Bamford broke down in training before Leeds’ 3-2 triumph against Aston Villa on 23 December.
“His injury again was a little bit of a freak one – one of the players fell on him in a training session just before the Aston Villa game where his knee got caught underneath him and twisted,” Price told the official Leeds website.
“Again, the injury he suffered previously, his PCL stayed intact and he didn’t damage that, but he did tear another ligament in his knee and the capsule at the back, so we have had to allow that to settle and then build him back up again outside.
“He is back with the coaching staff and looking quite sharp out there, but we don’t want to rush him back. He has had two separate ligament injuries now on that same knee, so we have to proceed with a little bit of precaution.”
OPINION
This is a startling revelation from Price. It begs a few questions; why on earth had it not been brought into the public domain earlier, and how unlucky can Bamford get? Marcelo Bielsa is very adept at revealing his team selections 48 hours before he needs to, but far more reserved when it comes to giving much in the way of detail when it comes to injuries to senior players. Quite why that is the case is hard to fathom. Leeds fans hoping Bamford would be back in the team earlier were clearly pinning blind faith in something that was never going to happen. Price’s update makes it clear it will be some time before the former Middlesbrough and Newcastle player will be available for first-team action, whatever apparent encouragement Bielsa offers that a comeback is close. Poor Bamford, who has yet to start a single league game for Leeds since joining for his mammoth fee last summer.