Phil Hay has been speaking on the latest edition of The Athletic’s The Phil Hay Show about all things relating to Leeds United.
One of the topics he briefly spoke about was the absence of Liam Cooper.
The Scotland international missed the Whites’ last game against Chelsea with illness and he will also miss the clash against Fulham. Hay revealed the latest on the defender’s condition.
Hay said: “Liam Cooper’s still ill, the understanding is that it is [pandemic-related] although the club aren’t talking about that and [Marcelo] Bielsa never comments on it, either.
“He wasn’t in the Scotland squad earlier this week, and then Steve Clarke had said that Cooper was going to miss the first two of their games had he been called up, so you can read into that what you will.”
Do you think Leeds will miss Cooper?
No, we will be fine
Yes, we could do with him
TIF Thoughts on Cooper…
Leeds’ captain has only missed seven games this season for the Whites in the Premier League, but it looks like he’ll be adding the upcoming Fulham match to that list.
The Whites did well without Cooper in their last game as they held Chelsea to a 0-0 draw at Elland Road, with Pascal Struijk and Diego Llorente both performing solidly.
The 29-year-old, valued at £6.3m by Transfermarkt, is a player who has improved massively under Marcelo Bielsa since the Argentine arrived at the club and has averaged a 7.09/10 rating from WhoScored this season.
This rating puts him in second place in the Whites’ squad, and though Leeds didn’t seem to miss him in their last match, we hope that Cooper makes a quick recovery and is ready to help Leeds after the international break.