Leeds United boss Daniel Farke addresses striker situation after double injury blow at Hearts

Both Georginio Rutter and Patrick Bamford went off injured in the Whites' final pre-season friendly of the summer at Hearts on Sunday, the former in the first half and the latter in the second. Rutter appeared to suffer a muscle problem in his side and though he played on and managed to produce a couple of eye-catching passes, he soon succumbed to the issue and had to be replaced.

Bamford, who took the Frenchman's spot up front, was heavily involved until the latter stages of the second half when he went down after a clash with Kye Rowles. The Hearts defender caught Bamford with a high boot and as the forward fell to the turf he briefly clutched his hamstring. Leeds' head of medicine and performance Rob Price was quickly onto the pitch and immediately signalled for a substitution.

Losing both Rutter and Bamford could leave Farke with just youngster Mateo Joseph for the number nine role when the Championship season begins in a week's time.

"A muscle injury in his core," said the manager of Rutter's problem. "After movement, we hope it's not too bad, we have to wait for the assessment, it's too early to say something. But anyhow, a core muscle I think.

"It seems to be like a hamstring injury [for Bamford]. It's more or less the same. We have to wait for the assessment. Something happened after the sprint and we have to wait for the assessment."

Farke was asked if the injuries exacerbated one of the club's summer transfer issues that already needed addressing but he disagreed.

"No because I don't think it will affect our transfer plans anyhow because I don't think it's unbelievable long term injuries," he said.

"It's not like an ACL or something like this where you're a month out so we hope that's not too long.

"It could obviously affect the first game, let's be honest and this is also what the Championship is all about. You play every three days. And if you miss two or three weeks anyhow then it could be quite quick - four or five games - so we hope for the best right now. In general, this type of injury happens in football sadly and we have to accept it."