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| Junior Firpo of Leeds United lands on Mathias Jensen of Brentford during the Premier League match between Brentford and Leeds United at Brentford Community Stadium on May 22, 2022 in Brentford, United Kingdom. |
Leeds United defender will miss the start of the Premier League season after being ruled out for eight weeks.
Firpo, 25, picked up a knock during Leeds’ 4-0 win over Blackpool last Thursday and was not included in their squad for the pre-season trip to Australia.
Leeds head coach Jesse Marsch has now confirmed the extent of Firpo’s injury ahead of their match friendly against Crystal Palace on Friday.
“He’s most likely out for eight weeks,” Marsch said on the left-back. “We’re hopeful that it’s a little bit faster because Junior healed really, really quickly last time after the MCL injury.”
Marsch, who is taking charge of his first pre-season with Leeds, added that the club are looking internally for solutions to Firpo’s injury but did not rule out looking to the transfer market either.
“We’re looking very closely at Leif Davis and we think he’s done really well,” Marsch added.
“We have also other solutions, like Pascal (Struijk) and potentially Jack (Harrison). But in the whole process, we were always evaluating what we would need at that position.
“So obviously this highlights that a little bit more clearly and we have time, we have time.
“When it comes to recruitment, I believe that Victor Orta and Gaby Ruiz do an incredible job of looking around the world, understanding what the demands of the style of football that the manager wants to play and then providing really good possibilities as to what those players could be and what the fits could be.”
Marsch also gave an update on club captain Liam Cooper, who has been struggling with an injury as well.
“I think he’s just got a little bit of an achilles issue and so we’re just being cautious, take it day by day,” he added. “He won’t play tomorrow.
“Leo Hjelde also has a small calf contusion so he won’t play but the rest of the roster that’s here will be ready and prepared to play.”
Leeds’ first Premier League game of the new season is against Wolverhampton Wanderers at Elland Road on August 6. They travel to Southampton a week later before hosting Chelsea the following weekend.
