Before traveling to play his previous team, Norwich City, on Saturday, the Leeds United boss has provided a new injury update.
After a two-week break, Leeds United will play again on Saturday when the Whites travel to Norwich City. Daniel Farke has had two weeks to work with his non-international squad members thanks to the international break, while the Championship season’s break has given injured players more time to heal.
The most noteworthy story ahead of Farke’s anticipated return to his old haunts at Carrow Road was his hopeful update on the five players on the injury list at the half. Wilfried Gnonto is expected to be added back into the matchday squad.
Both Jamie Shackleton and Wilfried Gnonto, who had an ankle injury in the draw against Hull City and had surgery last month, are back in action after missing the victory against Bristol City due to a shoulder ailment.
“Overall, I would consider it some progress,” Farke stated at his press conference prior to Norwich. “There haven’t been any issues since Willy returned to team training on Sunday. He hasn’t played in a while, so he can’t be regarded as 100% fit, but at training, he looked well, so it’s good to know that he will be traveling with the team and will be available for the match.
“Also, Jamie Shackleton back in team training since the beginning of this week, also much improved with his shoulder, also a topic for the squad to travel with us.”
Farke continued, “Djed Spence, who signed a loan, is also getting close to making a return from a knee injury.”
Here, he is undergoing his recovery. Normal development is also being made, but it will take a few weeks for him to return to team training. I anticipate that he will be absent for a few weeks because he is not too far away and is already working on the field, just not with the squad.”
Farke also spoke with his team’s players who had sustained longer-term ailments. Junior Firpo was the first to speak, having sustained a knee injury on the eve of the new campaign.
“Since Tuesday, Junior Firpo has been back training with the club. He participated in the group on Tuesday and attended the entire session yesterday.
“He only exercised alone today because he wasn’t well for four or five months, so we need to exercise caution a little bit, but it’s fantastic that he’s partially involved in team exercises. It’s not a topic for Norwich or anything, so it will take a few weeks. The next phase is that he can join us for the entire training week, after which he will undoubtedly require a few weeks to be ready and available.
“Stuart Dallas was out for a very long period. He has some integration as well. He participates in multiple team training sessions with us, but occasionally he needs to train alone or take some extra time to recover. The following action will be the same, so basically
Leeds is currently two points and two spots ahead of the Canaries in the Championship standings after the international break.
