Leeds handed fresh hope as huge Thorp Arch development emerges, Bielsa will be buzzing

Marcelo Bielsa has received fresh hope over two of his injured Leeds United stars this week…

What’s the latest?

An injury crisis has regularly decimated his playing squad throughout the 2021/22 campaign and there have been key long-term absentees in club captain Liam Cooper, defensive midfielder Kalvin Phillips and last season’s top scorer Patrick Bamford.

But a promising update has emerged on the latter two with a date for their returns in mind.

Are Leeds in a relegation battle?

According to journalist Adam Crafton of The Athletic, the pair are hoping to be involved for the Whites’ top-flight clash with Aston Villa at Elland Road on March 10th.

That is in a little under two weeks time, with games against Spurs and then Leicester City to come before that.

Fresh hope

This will come as a huge boost to the Argentinian head coach, the squad and the fanbase as the Yorkshiremen have sorely missed the presence of the two England internationals.

Since the start of last term, where they finished in an impressive tenth place, Leeds have lost 16 of 22 games without Phillips (72.7%), compared to the 11 defeats in the 41 games he has featured in (26.8%).

One factor behind that could be the lack of alternatives fit to play that anchorman role with Bielsa testing out the likes of Pascal Struijk, the now-injured Robin Koch, Adam Forshaw, Stuart Dallas and Mateusz Klich, all to little effect.

Meanwhile, further forward, the Whites have struggled for goals and some sort of presence fit to lead the line. Bamford bagged 17 goals and featured in every Premier League game last season.

Without him, Raphinha has had to carry the burden and he’s only found the net nine times with the next best sitting on four goals (Daniel James and Jack Harrison).

The 28-year-old has played only 459 minutes this campaign, in which only 22 have been since mid-September, having had to deal with a trio of injury setbacks and problems,

Bamford has missed 19 games in total.

When you throw in the absence of their skipper too, it’s no wonder the Yorkshire giants find themselves languishing in 15th position and on the cusp of entering a relegation dogfight, heading into the final few months of the season.

The prospect of having at least two of the three back in a matter of weeks is surely going to provide some encouragement and it’ll leave Bielsa a little more relieved, if not excited over the challenge ahead.

AND in other news, Orta pulled Leeds transfer masterclass with 21 y/o “huge talent”, now worth just £4.5m…