Leeds United defender Liam Cooper suffered an injury in Tuesday night’s win.
Leeds United centre-back Liam Cooper suffered an injury in Tuesday night’s victory over West Bromwich Albion.
The Whtes now face a nervous wait to see if Cooper will be passed fit to face Millwall at the weekend.
The Championship clash at The Den will be a tricky encounter and fortunately Leeds have a couple of ways to deal with Cooper’s potential absence.
Gaetano Berardi
Berardi has played for Leeds at Millwall before and he could be the ideal player to fill in for Cooper.
Marcelo Bielsa trusts him at centre-back and he is most likely to fill in for the Scot.
Berardi came on against West Brom in the 33rd minute and played well, helping Leeds to keep a clean sheet
One reason Leeds could choose to go a different direction is if Berardi is viewed as not fully fit still after the midweek game, and needs a longer rest.
He had just returned from a spell out and Bielsa had not planned to rush him back to action quite so soon.
Pascal Struijk
The second option Leeds could turn to is Dutch defender Pascal Struijk.
Struijk has been the standout player for Leeds’ under-23 side and it has been a surprise he has not been more involved with the first team yet.
The former Ajax academy talent has travelled with the first team this season, but is yet to make his debut.
If Berardi is not ready along with Cooper, he could get a call. At the least he may be on the bench this weekend.
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