Leeds United have suffered a huge blow to their Premier League return credentials after manager Daniel Farke confirmed that defender Ethan Ampadu will be out of first-team training for another 10 weeks – with expectations that he won’t make a return to the pitch until January.
Ampadu was one of Leeds’ standout performers when the Whites just missed out on promotion back to the Premier League at the first attempt due to a rampant Ipswich Town and a resurgent Leicester City. Ampadu joined Leeds from Chelsea last summer. The Exeter-born player had been hoping to be one of Leeds’ main men to return to the top flight after the team’s failure to win the play-offs. However, the ‘high class’ player will now be sidelined until the new year due to an injury sustained during the team’s victory over Coventry City over the weekend.
Speaking to the press ahead of their clash against Norwich City on Tuesday, Farke stated that Ampadu has picked up a serious knee injury – though with no surgery required, the injury won’t be as long-term as first thought. He said:
And to further that, Yorkshire Evening Post reporter Graham Smyth states that Ampadu is expected to be out of action for over three months – with a January return expected after following up on Farke’s news that the Welshman won’t be in team training for another 10 weeks alone
It’s a huge blow, with the midfielder missing just 22 minutes of Championship action prior to his injury, boasting the captain’s armband in each and every game he featured in.
Leeds sold multiple stars over the summer, including Archie Gray, Crysencio Summerville and Georginio Rutter who all left for the Premier League – but with a number of strong signings including Joe Rodon and Manor Solomon from Tottenham Hotspur, the Whites can still mount a strong push for promotion.
A decent push of late after a slow start finds Leeds just two points off the top of the league, with only Burnley, Blackburn Rovers, Sunderland and West Brom ahead of them in the table, a strong push in the next month could see Leeds look to battle the top two and create some breathing space between themselves and the play-offs after failing to do so last season. That could be tricky without Ampadu, but there is enough talent to battle through the barrier in midfield if they can get their squad players into the thick of the action