Kemar Roofe is expected to miss Leeds United’s clash against Ipswich on Sunday, according to Sky Sports.
The broadcaster claims that the 26-year-old has been troubled by a hip problem ahead of the trip to Portman Road and is unlikely to play against the Championship’s bottom club.
However Sky’s report comes after Marcelo Bielsa confirmed that Roofe is ready to replace Patrick Bamford in the starting line-up to take on Ipswich.
Yorkshire Evening Post journalist Phil Hay was at Biela’s press conference on Friday and he has indirectly quoted the Leeds boss as saying that Roofe is ready to step in and play this weekend.
Bielsa says Roofe is ready to step in. #lufc
— Phil Hay (@PhilHay_) May 3, 2019
Roofe has not started a match for Leeds since a knee injury in mid-February, but has came off the bench in the last six games.
OPINION
Bielsa is going to have to mix things up a bit when Leeds take on Ipswich on Sunday, but it is something that he should be doing anyway in a bid to rest some of his key players before the play-offs kick off. Roofe has struggled to get up to speed since his knee injury in mid-February and while he has been playing in the last few weeks, he hasn’t been starting and his performances off the bench have not been that amazing either. The former West Brom attacker may have been rushed back into the first team and should have spent another couple of weeks resting up before returning from that knee injury. Having a new hip injury does not help though, but hopefully a week off will help him recover in time for the play-offs. Bielsa should consider making a lot of changes this weekend. It’s very unlikely that Leeds will drop down to fourth in the table so they might as well give the fringe players a chance to shine.