The Leeds United striker is eyeing his teammates’ starting places as he continues his recovery from a two-month lay-off.
The Leeds United striker, Patrick Bamford, has identified Ezgjan Alioski as the teammate responsible for causing his most recent knee injury.
Bamford – for whom Leeds paid Middlesbrough around £7 million last summer [Transfermarkt] – has been sidelined on separate occasions this season, totalling the best part of five months missed football.
His initial return lasted a single game – albeit one in which he scored the winning goal against Bolton Wanderers – before a training-ground pile-on left him feeling what he described to BBC West Yorkshire Sport on Tuesday as “the worst pain I’ve ever had”.
“We were doing set-pieces and I jumped up for a header with Alioski and I landed in a similar position to the way I did it [injured his knee] the first time, from quite high,” Bamford explained.
“And then Ali landed straight on top of my bad leg as well. So even if I hadn’t injured my leg before, I’d have injured it then.”
Bamford marked his latest comeback with another goal in Saturday’s defeat against Norwich City and although, by his own admission, it will take a handful of games before he can last a full 90 minutes, the former Chelsea striker has backed himself to make a positive impact from thereon in.
“I think that once I get that [to the 90-minute mark], having missed a large portion of the season, everyone else the games kind of add up and their legs will be feeling it, whereas for me I should be fresh really. So I think that could have a good impact,” he added.
“Even if it wasn’t me, let’s say Izzy [Brown, the Leeds midfielder] as well, it’s a boost for the team to see someone else coming back. And they’re like, ‘Yes, we’ve got that extra, we’ve got somebody else’. It helps.
“So even without doing anything, the fact that getting an injured player back helps to boost the team morale, it gives them a little bit of positivity especially after losing at the weekend.
“The fact that, and I hate saying this because it’s me, I came back and scored almost puts a bit of positivity on it – the fact that they’re like, ‘Oh we’ve got him back.'”
Bamford’s injuries are just two of the 45 suffered by Leeds this season, although Marcelo Bielsa’s side remain three points clear of the play-off positions despite that.
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