Eyes peeled ahead of possible timely Leeds United injury return after Whites duo's success

March’s international action finally draws to a close this evening and recently absent Whites captain Liam Cooper is part of the Scotland squad who face a Euros qualifier against Spain at Hampden Park. Cooper has not featured for Leeds since playing the full duration of February’s 1-0 defeat at Nottingham Forest which proved ex-Whites boss Jesse Marsch’s last game in charge.

The Whites skipper then suffered a knock but returned to the bench for the same month’s trip to Everton after missing out on both games against Manchester United. The captain was not called for against the Toffees despite Leeds losing Max Wober to injury and caretaker boss Michael Skubala later revealed that the Whites captain was not yet ready for long minutes.

Cooper was then missing from United’s next four matchday squads but the 31-year-old was named in Scotland boss Steve Clarke’s squad for March’s Euros qualifiers and Cooper returned to the Whites bench as an unused substitute in the 4-2 win at Wolves before the international break.

Cooper was also named amongst the Scotland substitutes for Saturday’s 3-0 win at home to Cyprus for which he stayed on the bench and the Whites captain could now make a timely return against Spain at a time when fellow Leeds centre-back Wober is nursing an injury. Wober had been on international duty with Austria but returned back to Thorp Arch after suffering a hamstring injury in the 4-1 win against Azerbaijan.

Fellow first team Whites duo Brenden Aaronson and Weston McKennie were both in action for the USA in the early hours of Tuesday morning in a 1-0 win against El Salvador in the Concacaf Nations League.

McKennie started and provided the assist for the only goal of the game with a defence splitting pass for Ricardo Pepi. Aaronson was named on the bench and brought on with half an hour left. McKennie was eventually taken off in second half stoppage time.