Leeds United reveal extent of Pascal Struijk injury ahead of blockbuster Burnley battle — YEP 23/1/25
By Graham Smyth
Leeds United have confirmed the extent of Pascal Struijk’s
hamstring injury after the defender went for a second scan this week.
Whites boss Daniel Farke revealed on Thursday afternoon that
Struijk will return to training in the next week after being cleared of a more
serious injury.
Struijk picked up the problem in training prior to the win
over Sheffield Wednesday and an initial scan suggested he could be out for
either three weeks or three months. It was unclear on the first scan, due to
fluid and swelling, if a tendon was involved and so Leeds had him rescanned
this week as things settled in the affected area. The result was a positive one
and Leeds have no new injuries after the win over Norwich.
“Everyone came through our game without any new problems,”
said Farke. “I hope all the players will be available on Monday. Overall some
good news. The rescan [of Struijk] was very good, the tendon is not involved so
we can be a bit more progressive. He's already doing individual stuff outside.
I hope to have him back in team training in a few days. Perhaps even already at
some point in the next week. It looks good, not like he will be out for 10
weeks so definitely some good news with Pascal.”
Farke opted to play midfielder Ethan Ampadu in Struijk’s
left-sided centre-back role for both wins over Sheffield Wednesday and Norwich
City and the Welshman contributed to a pair of clean sheets. Last season he was
required to drop back into the defence for the second half of the campaign when
Struijk suffered a groin problem that was initially expected to keep him out
for three weeks. The problem was more complicated however and Struijk did not
play again in the 2023/24 season. This time round Farke said Leeds had to be
alert to potential transfer solutions but the Dutchman’s imminent return will
allow them to instead monitor other areas of concern for possible
opportunities. The manager has been clear that he would only consider additions
who would improve the squad and make financial sense.
“Yes of course it's good news that the tendon is not
involved,” said Farke. “It would have meant season was more or less over. Not
relieved yet, I still have a little in my head what happened last season. I
know a bit about his injury CV and it doesn't mean we'll fall asleep until the
end of the window. There are still a few positions where we could have a deeper
look if there's someone to improve our squad and it's exactly what we'll do.
But with this diagnosis we're not in panic mode so a bit calmer. We could think
it's worth to see if there's someone out there to improve us.”