Jesse Marsch hopes to see Leeds United skipper Liam Cooper resume full training with his teammates next week after an encouraging week so far. Cooper missed all five of Leeds’ pre-season friendlies with a minor but niggling Achilles injury and was forced to sit out of training during the club’s tour of Australia.
The centre-back was given the green light to take to the turf once more on Monday to train on his own and after making progress, Marsch is hopeful of seeing him in full training sooner rather than later. The head coach has officially ruled Cooper out of this weekend’s clash with Wolves, but he shouldn’t miss too much more action.
“Liam Cooper has had an Achilles issue from his off-season programme from running on a treadmill,” Marsch said. “It’s taken him a long time to get back into training but this week he has been on the pitch doing individual work, finally.
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“He will not be available this weekend but we’re hopeful that by next week he will be in team training.”
Marsch was also able to provide updates on a handful of other players who are currently occupying the treatment room at the Whites’ training base at Thorp Arch. Sinisterra picked up a hamstring injury in the first half of Leeds’ draw with Crystal Palace in Perth and will be expected to return to action later this month.
The same can be said for Adam Forshaw, who picked up a knee issue against the Eagles, while Junior Firpo and Luke Ayling are well and truly on the comeback trail, too, following their respective issues.
“Junior Firpo had a scan today and is ahead of schedule,” Marsch added. “We can do more with him but I would say he is still probably two or three weeks away from being match eligible.
“Adam Forshaw has made really good progress with a knee MCL issue, it’s not a pure MCL issue, it’s a little different than that. We’re hopeful that he will train next week.
“Luke Ayling has made a lot of progress after his surgery and is ahead of schedule and we’re trying not to pressure him too much but he is showing really positive signs that hopefully he can be in training in a couple of weeks.
“Luis was on the pitch today and looking very good and he’s getting closer and closer to his top speed. So I would assume that he would be in training next week and hopefully be available for the weekend after.
“Stuart Dallas has made really good progress and has had a couple of check-ups after the severe surgery and they feel like he’s right on track.”
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