Kemar Roofe is reportedly in danger of missing a large portion of the rest of Leeds United’s Championship campaign.
Marcelo Bielsa will be forced to make at least one change for Leeds’s home clash with Bolton this weekend, with the Yorkshire Evening Post reporting that Kemar Roofe is set to be sidelined for a number of weeks due to a knee injury.
Roofe’s goalscoring form has dipped somewhat in recent weeks, but he has remained a key player for the Whites, arguably putting in a fantastically selfless performance in the recent win against Swansea when he was deployed behind Patrick Bamford.
For any promotion-chasing side, losing the player that tops their scoring charts – and by some distance – at this stage of the season would appear to be an incredible blow. But for Bielsa, it will probably be looked upon as another chance to show how many tactical rolls of the dice his side can thrive from.
There are plenty of options available to the Leeds boss. The most obvious replacement is arguably Pablo Hernandez, but there are also options such as Tyler Roberts and Izzy Brown who will probably be hoping that Roofe’s injury is the unfortunate break that they have been waiting for.
But perhaps another member of his Leeds squad could be the man to really benefit from his teammate’s misfortune.
Adam Forshaw has not enjoyed the easiest time having been given the incredibly difficult task of filling in for Kalvin Phillips in holding midfield when the youngster was asked to play as a centre-back before Christmas.
His performance against Derby County left the fans raving about the former Middlesbrough man. But he did struggle to find the consistency that Phillips had shown, and the latter’s display against Swansea last time out encapsulated exactly why he is now so important to Bielsa’s side.
Phillips’s return however, does hand Forshaw a chance to push for a spot in his more natural role slightly further forward, alongside Mateusz Klich.
With Roofe now unfortunately sidelined, Forshaw could be a realistic option to come back into the side if he is fit. He obviously would not tick the same boxes that Roofe ticked, but his presence in the middle of the park would give Klich more licence to get forward more often and perhaps add to his tally of seven league goals for the campaign.
Forshaw may have to be the more defensive option, but the pair could arguably form an excellent partnership that allows either man to get forward when the chance presents itself.
It is easy to forget that Forshaw was arguably Leeds’s best player during the second-half of the last campaign. But perhaps Roofe’s injury could provide the opportunity that the 27-year-old needs to remind the fans of just how influential he can be for a side chasing promotion to the Premier League.
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