
Leeds United defender Pascal Struijk has suffered a hamstring injury and the club are unaware whether he will need more than three weeks to recover. The club are afraid that there is a chance that he could be out longer and it would be a massive blow to their promotion hopes. He has been one of the best defenders in the Championship this season and has been the lynchpin of Leeds’ defence. The Yorkshire giants are hopeful that he will be back after three weeks but any longer, it could mean trouble for the team in the coming months.
The Struijk injury has come at the wrong time for Leeds as they look to press on their advantage and try to build a lead at the top of the Championship table.
Sheffield Wednesday will be the visitors at Elland Road on Sunday for the local Yorkshire derby and Daniel Farke will now be forced into making a change in his defence.
Struijk and Joe Rodon formed a formidable centre-back pairing but the Leeds boss will now be forced to break that up and field a new-look defence on Sunday.
The natural thing to do would be to put Ethan Amapdu back into the defence and rejig the midfield but this is the kind of disruption Farke would have dearly liked to avoid.
However, the real issue is whether Leeds would be forced into the market for a new centre-back if the injury assessment suggests that Struijk would be out for longer than just three weeks.
Daniel Farke has hinted what Leeds could do while Pascal Struijk is out
Pascal Struijk’s importance to the Leeds team cannot be understated. He is one of the senior leaders of the team and the security he provides at the back enables the midfielders and forwards to play their game.
The injury has come at the wrong time for Leeds and Farke has hinted that the club could do based on the assessment of the injury in the coming days.
He admitted that the initial diagnosis is still three weeks and Leeds would not need to bring in a new player if Struijk becomes available next month.
However, if the centre-back is out for longer then Leeds could be forced to bring in a new defender to cover for the injury and maintain the balance of the squad.
Farke said in a press conference: “Pascal Struijk reported yesterday a little awareness in his hamstring. We had a scan, sadly it’s a muscle injury, will miss three weeks.
“He will be at least out the next three weeks, have to be a bit careful and assess him pretty carefully because if he would be out for a significantly longer period, it would impact our plans. It’s a big blow for the next games. Hopefully, it’s just three weeks.
“We need to assess Pascal’s situation quite carefully. If it’s just three weeks then perhaps there is no need to do something.
“If you bring in a new player he takes a few weeks to settle in. It doesn’t look likely [he’ll be out longer] but last season the injury diagnosis was 2-3 weeks out and he didn’t play one more game for us.
“I’m a bit more aware and awake on the market. It’s important we have a look at possible options in case there is a negative surprise next week.”
The kind of disruption Leeds didn’t need at this stage of the season
Following the 3-3 draw at Hull that opened a few can of worms about the team, Leeds would have liked a smooth build-up to the Yorkshire derby on Sunday.
However, Struijk’s injury has come as a jolt from the blue and the team have lost one of their most important players for three weeks or even months.
Ampadu’s presence in the squad will provide some solace and Farke will now have to rejig the defence and midfield for the next three weeks or more.
The Leeds boss again talked about the possibility of disrupting the squad by adding a new signing this month, something that he wants to avoid.
He will be hoping that Struijk is ready to get back in the team three weeks later as he doesn’t seem particularly keen to bring in a new defender in the winter window.
