Here are your Leeds United morning headlines for Wednesday, July 13.
Marsch thrilled to be in Australia
Leeds United head coach Jesse Marsch says his players are 'really happy' to be in Australia for their pre-season tour.
Marsch was speaking to the media ahead of Leeds' friendly against Brisbane Roar on Thursday. The game against the Queensland outfit will be the first of the Whites' three games while in Australia.
“We’re really happy to be here,” said Marsch. "Now we want to use these three games to get us more match fit and practice more what we want our style of play to be.
“I’ve watched Brisbane and looked at what we need to prepare for and we’re expecting a good match and a well-coached team. We’ve enjoyed having the team away together, being around the surroundings and enjoying what Australia has to offer."
Firpo set to miss start of Premier League season
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' friendly against Blackpool and has not travelled with the squad to Australia.
"He's most likely out for eight weeks," said Marsch. "We're hopeful that it's a little bit faster because Junior healed really, really quickly last time after the MCL injury.
"We're looking closely at Leif Davis and we think he's done really well. We also have other solutions, like Pascal (Struijk) and potentially Jack (Harrison). In the whole process, we were always evaluating what we would need at that position."
Marsch praises Raphinha amid imminent Barcelona switch
Jesse Marsch has opened up on Raphinha's impending move to Barcelona. As reported by Fabrizio Romano, the Whites have accepted a bid thought to be around £50 million plus add-ons from the La Liga giants.
"There's been distinct movement with Barcelona and we think that things will move along in the next day or two, but it's certainly not finished yet," said Marsch.
"As much as it's really hard to lose Raphinha, I'll say this. If you think about a young man that was pretty much guaranteed to go on a reduced transfer fee to Barcelona if we were relegated, and then you watch the performances he had to make sure the club was going to stay up, it would be hard for any 25-year-old to do that.
"I'm hopeful for him to get this deal done because I know it's his dream to play for Barcelona."
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