Daniel Farke says £4.6m Leeds United player underwent surgery on injury during international break.
Daniel Farke provided mixed news on the injury front ahead of Leeds United’s return to Championship action this weekend.
The Whites make the long trip to South Wales to face Swansea City on Sunday after 15 days without a match due to the international break.
Farke suggested Largie Ramazani could be back in the squad after returning to parts of team training this week, in what is a huge boost ahead of a busy period.
Ramazani has missed Leeds’ last four matches after picking up ankle ligament damage, but has recovered fairly quickly to get himself back in contention for Swansea.
Ethan Ampadu and Ilia Gruev were the only other two players to miss the victory over Queens Park Rangers last time out through injury, but remain long-term absentees.
Farke shares ‘bad news’ on Leeds’ Isaac Schmidt
Junior Firpo will be serving the second of a three-match ban at Swansea this weekend but one player who won’t be in contention to replace him is Isaac Schmidt.
Schmidt has only played a handful of minutes since his £4.6m move to Elland Road in the summer, with his most impressive cameo coming against QPR.
However, Farke has revealed in his pre-match press conference that Schmidt unfortunately won’t be getting the opportunity to continue that momentum.
Schmidt underwent surgery on a minor hernia injury at the beginning of the international break and will therefore be out of the trip to South Wales, though his recovery is likely to be quick.
He said: “Bad news with Isaac Schmidt, he needed a little hernia surgery, he will definitely miss out [vs Swansea]. Hope to have him back in training next week.”
Farke should start Max Wober at left-back for Leeds
Even when Schmidt was available, Sam Byram has been the preferred choice at left-back in the two matches Firpo has missed.
While Byram is always reliable, his tendancy to cut in on his right-foot sees Leeds lose a lot going forward down that left-hand-side.
As such, Farke should instead consider bringing Max Wober into the starting line-up for the first time in the Championship this season.
Wober has played plenty of times at left-back during his career and played 90 minutes for Austria during the break, meaning he should be ready to go.
