Leeds United player praises club for improving his quality, despite hardly playing – It’s an unlikely story

Leeds United manager Daniel Farke loves consistency in selection and is known for trusting a small group of players over utilising his squad players. It can often be frustrating for a player who awaits an opportunity under the German but one such star has revealed how he has improved under the Leeds boss this season even though he has hardly played.

Several Leeds United players have reported for international duty this week while the rest of the squad have gone on a much-needed break ahead of the business end of the season.

It is not surprising to see some of the top performers at Leeds playing national team football this week but there has been a shock call-up from the Whites squad as well.

Isaac Schmidt, who has played a grand total of 25 minutes of Championship football across seven substitute appearances this season, getting called up to the Switzerland squad this week has shocked many given his paucity of chances at Leeds.

Daniel Farke and his training sessions made it possible to break into the Switzerland squad – Leeds United star

Schmidt has hardly played for Leeds this season and his last appearance in the Championship came on Boxing Day when he was on the pitch for a minute.

The defender has struggled to impress at Leeds and so, it was a major surprise when he was called up to the Switzerland squad last week.

However, he insisted Leeds have equipped him better to handle the training sessions under Switzerland head coach Murat Yakin.

He stressed that the intensity of the sessions under Farke is on a different level compared to his previous club and even though he is not playing regularly, he is now used to the fast pace of the Leeds training sessions.

The defender believes he would have struggled to keep up in the national team if he was called up last year as he would have had no experience of Farke’s fast training methods.

“The training sessions at Leeds are of a completely different quality than they were in St. Gallen”, Schmidt told Swiss daily Blick.

“Even though I’m not playing, I’ve gotten used to the fast pace.

“If I had joined the national team eight months ago, I might not have been able to keep up with the intensity here in training.”

Farke’s imprints clear on every Leeds player

The Leeds manager has come under criticism for being too rigid with his style of football and not rotating his squad as much as others would have liked.

However, Schmidt’s words prove the Leeds boss’ work has rubbed off on players who are not getting as many opportunities to play as they would have liked.

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Yakin called up the Leeds defender even though he has not been playing because the Switzerland manager knew after working under Farke, he would have been ready for the intensity of training at least.

It is now up to Schmidt to grab his chances, if he gets them, and impress in the Switzerland jersey to remain in Yakin’s thoughts for the World Cup qualifiers.

However, without Leeds and Farke, the full-back would not have had this chance to impress in the national team.