Leeds United man misses out on international action with summer plan put in place

The Ulsterman had been ranked as an outside bet to return to action for the games against Denmark and Kazakhstan, by international boss Michael O’Neill.

“Stuart has maybe got an outside chance,” said O’Neill back in March.

"I’m not relying on that. I know Stuart is desperate to be involved and he was desperate to be involved in this game [against Finland], maybe unrealistically and he maybe pushed himself to his own detriment a little bit. But, look, the medical team we have here is top class and the communication with the clubs is excellent, which is very important. The clubs appreciate how we treat the players when they come away. We’ll just have to see how Stuart is at that point in time.”

The hope at club level was that Dallas could get himself back into contention for the final pair of Premier League outings but he is yet to make his comeback from the femoral fracture sustained in April 2022 against Manchester City. The injury has required more than a year of rehabilitation and a number of surgeries and he has not been able to join up with his national team to face Leeds team-mate Rasmus Kristensen and Denmark. The YEP understands Leeds’ plan for the 32-year-old is to keep him at Thorp Arch this summer to continue his fitness work ahead of the 2023/24 Championship campaign.

Dallas, who joined the club from Brentford in 2015, was one of the stars of Marcelo Bielsa’s promotion-winning side and a vital cog in the machine as they earned a top-10 Premier League finish in 2020/21, starting all 38 games, scoring eight goals and winning Goal of the Season, along with Players’ Player of the Year and Player of the Year. He has a year remaining on his contract at Leeds and to date has racked up 266 appearances.