Leeds captain Liam Cooper
Injury expert Ben Dinnery has made a worrying injury claim on Leeds United captain Liam Cooper, Football Insider report.
The Lowdown: Cooper’s season so far
Cooper, who missed 15 games with a hamstring injury last season, has already endured more issues in the early stages of the 2022/23 campaign.
The 31-year-old suffered an achilles problem in the off-season and is yet to feature in any of Leeds’ five Premier League fixtures.
He did feature in an EFL Cup win against Barnsley, though, with Jesse Marsch stating on Thursday that the centre-back is close to a start.
The Latest: Dinnery’s comments
Dinnery, who contributes for Sky Sports, was talking to FI regarding Cooper in a story shared on Friday morning.
He cited the ‘treadmill problem’ Cooper picked up and said the ‘worry’ is missing out on large parts of pre-season and the opening stages of the Premier League campaign.
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“The issue goes back to the close season when Cooper was working to get fit for pre-season.
“It was a treadmill problem and his achilles flared up.
“We have seen sporadic returns to the training pitches and a few minutes here and there.
“The worry is not so much the injury itself but more the fact that it is more time away from the training pitches and the first-team squad. It can feel impossible to catch up.
“But the positive start for Jesse Marsch is that it has been a very positive start to the season, and therefore there isn’t that pressure to rush Cooper back. You can afford to manage the player a little bit better.”
The Verdict: Caution
Cooper has struggled to stay fit over the last 12 months, and with no real pre-season under his belt, Marsch needs to be careful when bringing the skipper back into the first-team fold.
The Leeds boss has already lost a senior player in Rodrigo, and the last thing he’ll want is for Cooper to suffer a setback upon his return.
Robin Koch and Diego Llorente have been regulars at centre-back, with Pascal Struijk used on the left due to Junior Firpo’s absence, so Leeds can’t really afford to lose Cooper for large parts of the campaign.
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