The 25-year-old scored a hat-trick for the Whites U23s against Burnley but comments about his knee and tiring out by the end could be concerning.
Leeds United striker Patrick Bamford has admitted that he struggled in terms of fitness towards the end of Tuesday’s 6-3 win over Burnley’s Under-23s.
The 25-year-old summer signing is stepping up his recovering from an injury incurred in September and was named on the bench for the first time last Saturday against Queens Park Rangers.
On Tuesday, Bamford played 90 minutes in the Leeds Under-23s game against their Clarets counterparts and put in a sensational performance as he bagged a hat-trick in the crushing win at the Barnfield Training Ground.
Speaking to LUTV – and quoted by the official Leeds website – after the game, the treble-scoring forward said he was delighted with his performance and thought he could have gone on to score “four, maybe five” in total.
However, Bamford claimed that his “legs died a little bit towards the end, it was like running in treacle” and that for his second goal he jarred his knee slightly.
Though his hat-trick and 90-minute performance may seem like good news, Leeds head coach Marcelo Bielsa should be asking himself whether Bamford is ready to be thrown into first-team action right away.
Does the forward need to step up his match fitness if he still feels like “running in treacle”? Should the jarred knee be monitored? The Whites boss has this to ponder heading into the busy festive period.
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