Early injury belief revealed as Leeds United man suffers issue in win over Plymouth Argyle

The full-back, who has been employed on the left hand side of the defence by Daniel Farke this season after signing as a free agent in the summer, went to ground and asked for treatment early on in the second period at Elland Road on Saturday. Leeds went on to win 2-1, with Junior Firpo making his comeback from injury to replace Byram.

Hamstring problems have severely disrupted Byram’s career. He spent nearly two years out of action while at Norwich after one such injury and complications with surgery. Leeds, though, believe that this is not a recurrence of a prior injury and is simply a normal hamstring strain that will sideline him for a matter of weeks rather than months.

Farke already expected to be without the veteran for the game against Rotherham United when Leeds return from the upcoming international break: “Hamstring strain, he felt pain after a sprint and it was clear he couldn't go on. We have to wait for further assessment. It's beneficial that we have more or less two weeks without a game but I suspect he'll probably miss the Rotherham game.”

Byram’s misfortune allowed Firpo to make a long-awaited return to action. The former Barcelona man made his first appearance under Farke, having damaged his knee in the summer and then experienced hip problems upon his initial first team training involvement. Firpo was on the bench for last week’s win at Leicester City and the plan to give him a cameo against Plymouth went out the window when Byram picked up his injury inside the first 10 minutes of the second half.

“If I'm honest it was in a period when I would have prefered to make it a bit more easy for him after being out for a long time,” said Farke. “But he adapted well. He played a bit longer than I had planned. Perhaps it helps him in terms of getting minutes into his body. I'm hoping lots of players will be reinvolved [in the international break] after little injuries, like Joe Gelhardt, Jamie Shackleton and Firpo to have more time with us on the training ground. It will be important for players like Djed Spence, hopefully he returns back in training and we'll work with Sam Byram in the rehab.”