Key Leeds United figure issues injury reveal and important step in recovery

Cooper injured himself when netting a bullet header in the opening weekend clash against visiting Cardiff City and was stretchered off after igniting the Whites comeback in a 2-2 draw. The centre-back then discovered that he had ruptured his plantar fascia, leaving the Whites captain facing around eight weeks out.

Cooper, though, has revealed that there were initial fears that the damage was actually worse, helping the skipper with the key step of keeping positive in his recovery over the next eight weeks.

Writing in the matchday programme of Friday night’s Championship clash against West Brom, Cooper wrote: “Since my last notes, I’ve now found out that I’ve unfortunately ruptured my plantar fascia, ruling me out for eight weeks, which is a big disappointment personally.

"As everyone knows, I want to be on the pitch, helping the rest of the lads as much as possible, so not being able to is frustrating. However, when the injury happened, there was a fear that the timescale would be much worse, so it’s important to remain positive and I’ll be working as hard as I can to get back as soon as possible.”