11 of Leeds United’s best players were called up for international duty this week. This included nine first team stars and Charlie Crew and Rory Mahady, both from the U21 side.
Some first team players have been in action already – Karl Darlow, Ethan Ampadu and Joe Rodon all featured as Wales lost 3-0 to England on Thursday night. Ao Tanaka also featured for Japan in their 2-2 draw with Paraguay on Friday.
Leeds youngster Charlie Crew has been named Wales U21 captain for their upcoming game against Belgium.
QUIZ: Can you name these 10 former Leeds United strikers?
Gabriel Gudmundsson speaks about captaincy decision
Ahead of Sweden’s upcoming game in the international break, Gudmundsson been speaking to local media Fotboll Direkt about the current captaincy issue. Sweden manager Jon Dahl Tomasson spoke about how the national team captains have been ”cursed” recently. Victor Lindelof and Dejan Kulusevski who wore the armband recently have been struggling with injury problems.
Leeds defender Gudmundsson has joked that he will not be wearing the armband soon: “I stay away from it, so I don’t get hurt,”
“It’s not something I’m thinking about. We have good players at a very high level, and he [Isak] has played longer in the national team than I have, so it’s nothing strange,” he explained.
“I always try to go in with confidence and control as well as I can. But we have good players at the back regardless, so it doesn’t matter,”
How has Leeds United defender fared this season
The Swedish international has been a fresh breath of air for Leeds United. When Junior Firpo left, many fans at the club were unhappy with the decision. Firpo was in great form the year he knew his contract was running out. He signed off with a spectacular season in the Championship before leaving on a free transfer this summer
Some people around the club were concerned about who would take up his role in the Premier League. Gudmundsson has come in and done just that, but with a twist – Daniel Farke has made the left back a more conservative role than Jayden Bogle on the right. So while Bogle overlaps, Gudmundsson provides a safety option behind the ball. The Swedish defender has shown to be very capable with the ball in the build up; a solid addition so far.
