Kalvin Phillips, Luke Ayling & Mateusz Klich react to major Leeds United news

Kalvin Phillips, Luke Ayling & Mateusz Klich were among a handful of current and former Leeds United stars to react with joy to Stuart Dallas’ return to training at Thorp Arch.

The Northern Ireland international shared a picture of his progress on Instagram on Thursday with the caption ‘All in good time’. The post garnered close to 16,000 likes as the versatile defender continues his recovery from a leg break that has kept him out since the end of April 2022.

Klich commented ‘Let’s go’ on the post coupled with an emoji of a smiling face with heart-eyes. Phillips also kept a similar theme with a trio of smiling faces with heart eyes.

Ayling said ‘It’s great to see’ with three blue hearts while Willy Gnonto reacted with three heart emojis. Gnonto is yet to play with Dallas for Leeds but manager Daniel Farke says the Northern Irishman remains a big figure in the dressing room.

Ahead of Saturday’s Championship clash with Watford, the Whites boss said: “First of all I am really delighted because it was a tough road for him through all this. I am sure there were darker moments for him because it is tough when you can’t do what you love, play football.

“It is great to see him back in team training at least and it was big parts of team training yesterday (Thursday). Also the group was delighted, each and every player was outside to give him a warm welcome. It is a big boost for the group, he is a great lad not just on the pitch but off the pitch as well. He is a quality player with lots of experience, he is a very important.

“He is a very important player, I always like to speak and talk with him. He is a Leeds legend because he has done so much for this club.

“To be honest, it will last a while before he is available. He was out for such a long time and normally you have this rule that you are only back to top fitness once you have trained for as long as you were out. I am hoping it will not last that long but it will definitely be a few weeks until he is fully in my plans and available. But it’s a pretty important step and I am glad for him.”

Former IBF featherweight champion Josh Warrington also reacted to the post with a message reading ‘Cmon Stuey’ while former Leeds striker Kemar Roofe commented ‘Love to see it my guy’.