Jesse Marsch hasn’t ruled out the possibility of signing a left-back this summer after confirming that Junior Firpo will miss the start of the Premier League season. Firpo picked up a knock during Leeds United’s pre-season friendly with Blackpool last week and as a result he has not travelled with the rest of the squad to Australia.
It seems he could now be set to miss the first month of the campaign and that could force the club to reassess their left-sided full-back options. The Whites have taken Leif Davis to Gold Coast and he will feature against Brisbane Roar on Thursday, but Marsch hasn’t dismissed the idea of adding more options to their squad.
“He's most likely out for eight weeks,” Marsch said of Firpo’s injury. “We're hopeful that it's a little bit faster because Junior healed really, really quickly last time after the MCL injury.
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“We're looking very closely at Leif Davis and we think he's done really well. We have also other solutions, like Pascal and potentially Jack. But in the whole process, we were always evaluating what we would need at that position.
“So obviously this highlights that a little bit more clearly and we have time, we have time. When it comes to recruitment, I believe that Victor Orta and Gaby Ruiz do an incredible job of looking around the world, understanding what the demands of the style of football that the manager wants to play and then providing really good possibilities as to what those players could be and what the fits could be.”
There is a small concern about Liam Cooper too at present with the centre-back carrying a small Achilles problem. Cooper was seen working on his own at the club’s open training session at the Cbus Super Stadium and the head coach has revealed he will miss the clash against the Roar.
“I think he's just got a little bit of an Achilles issue and so we're just being cautious take it day by day,” he added. “He won't play tomorrow.
“Leo Hjelde also has a small calf contusion so he won't play but the rest of the roster that's here will be ready and prepared to play.”
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