Barry Douglas has sent a Twitter message to Leeds fans following successful surgery on a medial ligament injury he picked up in the 3-2 win against Millwall.
Douglas played through to the end of the game on Saturday, despite being in obvious discomfort, after manager Marcelo Bielsa had already used all three substitutions.
That backfired, with Douglas now out for the rest of the season.
He sent the tweet on Wednesday afternoon and said, “Op went well, thanks again for all the support and well wishes. Now time for recovery and start rehab.”
Op went well, thanks again for all the support and well wishes now time for recovery and start rehab ??? pic.twitter.com/D6p8oNkiZD
— Barry Douglas (@barrydouglas03) April 3, 2019
OPINION
It shows how high the stakes are at Leeds at the moment. The same thing happened to Pontus Jansson in the game against Sheffield United before the international break. He was injured after all three subs had been made and was moved up to play as a makeshift striker before going in goal after Kiko Casilla was sent off. The international break played into Leeds’ hands here, with Jansson declared fit for the Millwall game. They didn’t get as lucky with Douglas. It’s hard to argue against the fact that playing on with that sort of injury would have made it worse and Leeds will now have to do without him for the rest of the season. He’ll be a loss. He proved that when he came on at half-time against Millwall and assisted the equalising goal for Luke Ayling. The only silver lining is that Douglas wasn’t starting games – the last time he started was on January 1 against Nottingham Forest. However, he’s an attacking option that Bielsa will now have to do without in the crucial remaining games. Should he have come off? Well, Leeds secured the three points but it’s obviously impossible to say whether they would have done with 10 men. Ultimately, that had to come down to Douglas.