Patrick Bamford acknowledges that he is “touch and go” to participate in Leeds United’s Championship play-off match against Southampton the following week. The seasoned attacker hasn’t featured for the Whites since April 22 when he sustained a knee injury during their 4-3 victory over Middlesbrough.
Sam Byram and Pascal Struijk were both injured, thus Bamford was one of three senior players missing from their play-off semi-final second leg thrashing of Norwich City. When United plays Southampton at Wembley on May 26, manager Daniel Farke will be hopeful that Bamford and Byram will be eligible for selection. Important center back Struijk is already sidelined until the following campaign.
During a recent appearance on the “My Mate’s A Footballer Podcast,” Bamford stated: “The short answer is no [about whether he is aware of the location of his injury].” These next ten days are very close; in all likelihood, I will need to train with the squad at some point the following week if I hope to compete in the final.
“Against Middlesbrough I don’t remember doing it. There was one shot where I was limping after which is where they think it happened. Cry [Crysencio Summerville] had a shot and I slid in to try and tap it in at the back post, and I don’t know what happened and somehow I managed to bang my knee, or twist it or something.
“Two minutes later when I start to run around on the pitch it got more and more sore. The manager took me off five minutes later so I thought good, I will be alright, I’ve just banged it. Then the next day, I was in agony and I was like, what’s going on?
“I got on the bench and iced it and thought it would settle down the next day, but it got worse. It’s hard to explain what it is, but it’s something to do with the patella tendon and where the bone attaches. It’s touch and go for the final.
“Realistically because it’s been three weeks since I last played, I need to train, with the final on Sunday, by Wednesday to get a few days training because otherwise it’s pointless me being there as I won’t be sharp anyway.”
