Fresh Leeds United injury return hope ahead of Manchester United clash
Leeds United could welcome back an injured star for Sunday’s Premier League meeting with Manchester United.
Leeds United winger Daniel James is ‘working hard’ to be fit in time to face former club Manchester United on Sunday.
James missed last weekend’s 2-1 defeat at Premier League champions Arsenal due to a back injury. The speedy winger has struggled with his fitness for several months, playing just 189 minutes across all competitions for Leeds so far this season.
Back and hamstring issues have been a somewhat regular occurrence for James, who played three times for Wales during the international break but had to be carefully managed. The Welshman has missed a combined 118 days through injury since Leeds’ top-flight return.
With a full week between that trip to Arsenal and the visit of Manchester United to Elland Road, James has a chance to rebuild his fitness and, as Farke demands, get involved in full team training. And the 28-year-old provided an update from his side on Thursday.
“I’m working hard and we’ll see how the next few days go, really,” he told well-known Leeds fan and DJ Chris Moyles on Radio X. “The weekends are the best things.
“To play in front of the fans is amazing and especially last season I missed out on a lot of games. It is hard to watch - you want to cheer your team on, but it is hard to watch knowing you can’t influence the game.”
James was one of three Leeds absences last weekend but he is alone in having a chance to feature this weekend. Mateo Joseph remains out for the foreseeable future with an ACL injury while Joe Rodon has been out for almost seven weeks with a hamstring strain.
The centre-back was given a six-to-eight-week recovery timeline shortly after pulling up against Brentford on August 30. Manager Daniel Farke hasn’t given any suggestion of an early return for his Welsh warrior but will speak with the media later today.
Leeds didn’t appear to have picked up any fresh issues during that 2-1 defeat to Arsenal in which they looked very competitive. Farke will also provide an update on James’ chance of featuring this afternoon.