Leeds United stars will retune their focus on the automatic promotion race with the season set to resume this weekend when the Whites will host Swansea City at Elland Road. While some Leeds players were out on international duty, a few put their feet up, and one of them received an interesting offer during the break.
Daniel Farke and his Leeds United players will prepare this week to host Swansea City as they look to get over their recent wobble and win all three points next weekend.
The rest of the Leeds squad will reassemble later this week after all the players return from international duty and look to prove the final thrust needed to secure automatic promotion.
Joel Piroe will also resume his quest for the Championship Golden Boot, but the forward had an interesting offer on his table during the break, which could have had future consequences.
Leeds United star turns down Surinam
It emerged during the break that the Concacaf nation Surinam have offered Piroe to change nationality and represent them in the World Cup qualifiers later this year.
The forward represented the Netherlands in youth football but has never gone close to breaking into the senior team. However, the Dutchman has politely turned down the opportunity.
Piroe stressed that the intensity of club football means he enjoys the break during the season when international football is played, and insisted that he would have taken a huge toll on his body to travel to Surinam to play games while being a Leeds player.
He claimed that his focus is on Leeds and winning the Championship this season.
“It is, of course, always an honour that they [Suriname] invited me, but I also told them that given the toughness of the competition at the moment, I want to take my rest during international periods”, Piroe told ESPN Netherlands.
“For now, it is difficult to travel all the way to Suriname and play my matches there. I want to focus fully on club football now.
“At the moment, I am only thinking about the title.”
Piroe is fully committed to Leeds
The Dutchman is unlikely to get into the Netherlands team any time soon unless he does something extraordinary in the Premier League if Leeds get promoted.
So, his decision to reject Surinam’s offer to play international football in favour of keeping his body fit and fresh for club football and Leeds shows his commitment towards the club.
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He has been criticised, but Piroe has manfully carried the burden of the primary goalscorer at Leeds with little support coming from the bench this season.
The striker is desperate to get his chance to have a crack at the Premier League, and nothing is going to shift his focus away from his goal at Leeds.
