Leeds United boss gives updates on Pascal Struijk, Joe Rodon and Glen Kamara ahead of Birmingham City game — Yorkshire Post 31/12/23

LEEDS UNITED manager Daniel Farke remains hopeful that defender Pascal Struijk could return for the New Year’s Day Championship home game against Birmingham City at Elland Road.

By Leon Wobschall

The Dutchman had featured in 23 of the club’s 24 league games this term until being ruled out of Friday’s game at West Brom because of an abductor issue.

Club captain Liam Cooper stepped in for Struijk, who has captained Leeds a number of times himself in 2023-24, at The Hawthorns.

On Struijk, Farke, whose side have won just once in five league matches and are encountering an untimely blip in form, said: “At least, he was not at risk in this (West Brom) game.

"A few weeks ago, he had hernia surgery and right now, the first time we have so many games in such a short period of time, he felt some problems in this region- his hernia abductor a little bit.

"It was not possible for him to train (on Thursday) and travel with us. I hope it improves and obviously, I hope to have him available, but we have to wait for the assessment.

"It won’t be an injury where he is out for weeks or something like this. But just a question if he can make the New Year’s Day game or then probably for the FA Cup.”

Key loan defender Joe Rodon, impressive since joining the club on a season-long loan from Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur, experienced a very slight head injury in the appointment in the Midlands on Friday and will be assessed ahead of the Blues game.

But Farke has downplayed any significant issue.

He continued: "I did not hear anything. Perhaps there was a little injury with the head in the first half. Perhaps he had some headache or whatever.

"But I am not sure if there was something major. I haven’t heard anything from the doctors. So we’ll assess him, but at least he was capable to play the full 90 minutes, but I will check later on."

Glen Kamara, Archie Gray and Daniel James were all rested and named on the substitutes’ bench against Albion, with Farke stressing that handing them a breather was the only consideration and nothing else, with the trio pushing for a return against Blues.

Farke commented: "It was clear that in this period of four games in ten days that we needed to give some rest away.

"Daniel James had played ninety minutes two days before, the same with Archie Gray.

"Glen, without having a pre-season, has played a lot. He was great against Ipswich and I think it was his best performance of the season.

"But also against Preston, you could see his work rate went down and he looked a bit tired. It was not in his passing because he is always excellent, but it was in his movement. He needed a bit of rest to refresh.

"At this moment, I have to use my whole squad and trust it. For that, it was not a decision against Glen, Archie or Danny. Ilia (Gruev) got the chance to be involved and overall did really well and put a shift in and I was pleased with that.”

Keeper Illan Meslier serves the second game of a three-match ban.