Leeds United's 'big hope' for Patrick Bamford as Jesse Marsch reveals Luis Sinisterra's timeline - YEP 3/1/23

Leeds United boss Jesse Marsch doesn't expect to have Patrick Bamford available for the West Ham United clash at Elland Road.

By Graham Smyth

The October 29 victory at Liverpool was the last time the striker featured and since then he has had surgery for a groin problem that was niggling ever since he recovered from a hip issue. While Marsch and the first team squad were in Spain for a training camp during the World Cup break, Bamford flew to Munich, Germany to be operated on by world renowned specialist Dr Ulrike Muschaweck.

Her special technique for treating 'sportsman's groin' - the Muschaweck-Repair - aims to avoid making the defect of the groin canal larger, by using a special surgical suturing technique. The use of but a few stitches ordinarily means players can be jogging again in two days and sprinting again within five or six. Leeds expected to have Bamford in contention to face Manchester City on December 28, but a month on from the surgery, he has not yet returned to action.

Marsch, who has previously revealed that illness had delayed Bamford's training restart, wasn't of the opinion that his number 9 would be an option against the Hammers on Wednesday night as both he and winger Luis Summerville continue to work their way back to fitness.

"I don't think Patrick will be back yet," said Marsch, after a goalless draw with Newcastle United.

"I think more than anything, it will be about getting guys more at 100 per cent match fit, so guys like Cree [Summerville] and Jack [Harrison]. Luis [Sinisterra] won't be back yet and Patrick won't be back in."

So far this season Bamford has played in 10 Premier League games, surpassing at least the nine in which he featured in the 2021/22 campaign, but the stop-start nature of his comeback means he's still played fewer minutes this term. In six starts he has failed to reach the final whistle, playing his most minutes - 84 - in the opening game of the season.

Despite the obvious frustration at another season being ravaged by injury problems, Marsch says Bamford remains optimistic and both he and the club are pinning their hopes on December's surgery bringing him back to full fitness and sustained involvement.

"I think he's been generally positive and hopeful that this surgery is the solution," said the American.

"Obviously he's disappointed that it's taken longer than we've hoped, but we still have big hope that this will be a difference maker in terms of getting him to 100 per cent."

As for Sinisterra, who suffered a Lisfranc injury in October, both he and Stuart Dallas [femoral fracture] are progressing, the head coach believes. Winger Sinisterra could be back in full training in the next week or so, having not featured since the Fulham game.

“Stuart is working really hard every day and making good progress,” he said.

"It's too difficult to give a prognosis [on Stuart] right now, but Luis is making very good progress, he has been on the pitch doing a lot of individual work, which is the next big phase for him. I would think maybe in 10 days he'll be with the team. It's a Lisfranc injury, which is strange, and so it's not always easy to know exactly how it's going to respond. But right now a lot of real positive signs, which would be big for us.”