Battling Gaetano Berardi an obvious solution for Leeds United's Pontus Jansson problem

Berardi has never undergone surgery at any stage of his career and his refusal to break the habit of lifetime will give Marcelo Bielsa the chance to call on him at the moment when Leeds United’s head coach needs another centre-back. Berardi for Pontus Jansson might be the call when Bielsa and his squad regroup for the visit of Millwall to Elland Road.

The Switzerland international was one of Bielsa’s first-choice defenders at the start of the term, a player who Bielsa saw as integral in a team committed to playing out from the back, and United’s boss was pleased to have Berardi back in the fold last month.

“Berardi always make people watching him satisfied,” Bielsa said and Jansson’s knee injury could give Berardi a chance to play in a campaign which almost slipped away from him.

He tore his hamstring in the 2-0 win over Ipswich Town on October 24, a few days after returning from a knee injury. Leeds’ medical team discussed his options with him and agreed that they would allow him to recover without an operation, giving him a chance of taking part in the Championship run-in.

Speaking to the YEP last month, Rob Price, Leeds’ head of medicine and performance, said: “His is a really difficult injury. You go to some surgeons and they’d say ‘that’s six to nine months’.”

Berardi’s rehabilitation was set at fourth months and his comeback met that timeframe exactly, allowing him to make the bench for Leeds’ game at Queens Park Rangers three weeks ago. Berardi has played only once in the Championship since his comeback – for seven minutes during a 1-0 win at Bristol City – but his fitness is being honed in the Under-23s and he was put through 120 minutes of a Premier League Cup tie against Fulham at Guiseley last week.

He is the likely option in front of Bielsa as the Argentinian considers how best to replace Jansson.

Jansson started the campaign on the bench but his form has been so good in the main that an injury or suspension to either him or Liam Cooper were the only ways in which Berardi would have found his way back into the team. Jansson hurt a knee in Saturday’s 1-0 defeat to Sheffield United, twisting it in a tackle on Billy Sharp, but was injured at a point of the game where Bielsa had no substitutions remaining.

Jansson indicated his discomfort to the bench but was left on the field and moved up front to counter his limited movement. A late red card shown to Kiko Casilla saw him finish the game in goal.

Leeds have ruled Jansson out for a maximum of three weeks but are hopeful that his recovery will be quicker than that. Jansson pulled out of international duty with Sweden on Sunday, withdrawing from European Championship qualifiers against Romania and Norway, and is beginning rehabilitation work at Thorp Arch.

The club expect him to miss their next match, at home to Millwall on March 30, but will attempt to nurse him back to full fitness in time for or shortly after their fixture away at Garry Monk’s Birmingham City on April 6, one of two difficult away matches in the space of four days.

Jansson’s partnership with Cooper has been a reliable combination for Bielsa, averaging a concession rate of a goal a game in the 22 matches they have played together. Saturday was a rare occasion where the partnership went awry, although an error by Cooper was to blame for Chris Basham’s winning goal and he was also at fault when Casilla fouled Sharp and earned himself a red card.

Speaking before Leeds’ trip to Reading, Bielsa said: “From an individual point of view they’re playing at a very high level, both of them. They’re players with many skills and skilled players don’t have problems playing with each other. They’re the defensive structure for a team who attack a lot.”

Bielsa’s alternative to Berardi is Kalvin Phillips, his fall-back option at centre-back throughout the season. Phillips finished Saturday’s derby in that position after Jansson’s shift to centre-forward but his impact has been more keenly felt in a holding midfield role and the scoreline against Sheffield United did not deflect from the way in which the 23-year-old negated a talented playmaker in John Fleck.

Bielsa’s freedom to move Phillips into his backline will be influenced by the fitness of Adam Forshaw, who sustained what Leeds considered to be a minor knee problem against Norwich City at the start of last month but has already missed eight matches.

Bielsa revealed before the visit of Sheffield United that Forshaw and Kemar Roofe – absent with knee ligament damage – were in the final stages of fitness work but United’s boss prefers to push longer-term absentees through development-squad games before recalling them and the Under-23s’ only fixture during the international break is away at Colchester United next Monday.

Berardi provides a less complicated swap and Leeds kept him away from surgery for precisely this reason: in the hope that at the crucial stage of a season in which the number of injuries have been off the scale, Bielsa would have the former Sampdoria player in reserve.

“It’s been very hard for me personally,” Berardi told the club’s matchday programme on Saturday. “I just wanted to be back as soon as possible.”

Jansson’s injury leaves the door ajar.