‘It’s likely’: Marcelo Bielsa suggests ‘healthy’ ace won’t be playing for Leeds against Brighton

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Speaking in his pre-match press conference, Marcelo Bielsa has delivered an update on Luke Ayling’s fitness.

The full-back has been out of action for Leeds for a couple of months with a knee injury that he had surgery on.

Fortunately, it seems as though Ayling will be back in the first-team sooner rather than later, but this weekend’s game will seemingly come too soon for the 30-year-old.

What’s been said about Ayling?

Bielsa gave an update on some of his players.

Ayling will probably be able to play with the under-23s on Monday as he’s healthy now. Shackleton is also healthy,” Bielsa said.

“I’ll repeat everything again, Shackleton is available, Raphinha is available, Rodrigo is available, Ayling is healthy and it’s likely that he’ll play for the U23s on Monday as a further step to his total recovery.”

Back soon

It seems as though Ayling will be back playing senior football sooner rather than later.

A game or two for the U23s certainly won’t hurt, and as we’ve seen plenty of times in the past, this is how Bielsa helps his returning players get back to full fitness.

Being healthy and being match fit are two entirely different things, so giving Ayling some minutes at U23 level may be just what the doctor ordered.

Fingers crossed the full-back can come through Monday’s game for Mark Jackson’s side unscathed and he can get back playing in the first-team before too long.