Is Gaetano Berardi about to provide another surprise at Leeds?

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Leeds United were expecting to be without Gaetano Berardi until February, but perhaps he could be about to provide another surprise.

One of the reasons why Leeds have been able to cope with losing so many players to injury this season is the fact that many of those same players seem to return a lot sooner than initially feared.

Liam Cooper is already back on the training ground, while Luke Ayling returned to the starting lineup for the Whites’ clash with Aston Villa on Sunday despite previous suggestions that he was expected to be out until the new year (via Yorkshire Evening Post).

Patrick Bamford seemed to make the most miraculous recovery of all. The club reported on their official website in September that he was expected to be out until mid-January, but he has already scored a winning goal for the first-team this month.

It seems to provide the entire club with a lift when a player manages to return ahead of schedule. And perhaps the comments from the head of medicine and performance Rob Price in an interview with LUTV over the weekend hint that another surprise may be in the offing.

Leeds confirmed on their official website in early November that Gaetano Berardi was set to be ruled out until February due to a hamstring injury.

The news was a big blow for Marcelo Bielsa’s men. Moving Berardi into centre-back has been an inspired decision from Bielsa this season, and the Whites, on paper, did not have the options to cope with losing anymore players in that area of the field.

However, Price told LUTV at the weekend that Berardi was doing some ‘unbelievable’ work in his recovery.

Given that remark, coupled with how some of his teammates have recovered ahead of the schedule, it would appear entirely possible that Berardi could become the latest member of the Leeds squad to hand Bielsa an injury boost.

Most of the Elland Road faithful would argue that if there is any player who has the ability to recover from an injury much sooner than anyone could have imagined, it would be Berardi.

And perhaps there is a chance that the man who surprised so many with the quality of his performances at centre-back this term may be about to catch everyone off-guard once again in the coming weeks.