Leeds United striker Patrick Bamford issues injury update and addresses dream he won't give up

The striker sat out the friendly against Blackpool last week in York but did feature against Stoke City a few days earlier and played a full part in the Whites' open training session on the Gold Coast of Australia on Tuesday.

He's expected to be involved when Leeds face Brisbane Roar at the Cbus Super Stadium in Queensland on Thursday and is champing at the bit to enjoy some more football.Last season was, put plainly, a write-off for the striker.

Ankle, hamstring, quad and foot issues kept him from contributing in the way he had hoped and restricted him to fewer than 600 Premier League minutes as Leeds fought for their top flight lives.

"Normally after a season, it's nice to have a little break, but I was eager to get back straightaway," he said.

"So I pretty much spent the offseason working through it and just trying to get myself in the best possible shape to come back, ready."

The pain of the plantar fasciitis that plagued him before definitively putting him out of action in March has now left him, and although its effects are still felt, he no longer classifies it as a going concern.

"To be fair, it's fine - I'm able to train fully and do everything as normal," he said.

"The only thing is getting up in the morning, it's a bit stiff, but it's fine, I don't have any issues playing or anything. The more I play the more it adjusts. It takes three months for the actual tissue to adjust fully but there's no issue now."

Where Leeds and Bamford have had to be careful is not just with his foot but the rest of his body.

As Marsch pointed out last week, Bamford has not had regular football of any meaningful quantity since September of 2021.

"It puts you out of sync a little bit, you have to build into everything gently," said the striker.

"That's what I've been doing, making sure I didn't just have the offseason off and then came back. I was already behind the lads obviously because they played last year, so it's about trying to build up slowly, trying to get into a good place. The gaffer and that know that I've got to still keep creeping up slowly but being involved as much as possible and getting as fit as I can for the start of the new season."

This summer represents a fresh start for everyone at Leeds but Bamford in particular wants to put last season well and truly behind him.Marsch is helping him with that.

"I was frustrated as anyone last year, not just because of the way the season was going but the fact that I couldn't help and then Jesse came in and I was eager to get back to try and help the team and it's just one of those seasons in the end," he said.

"But Jesse's spoken to me and I know how he sees things. I know what's in store for us this year, so I think there's a lot of reasons to be positive at the minute."

And for Bamford there's still reasons for optimism when it comes to the 2022 dream he so boldly laid out last summer.

Speaking ahead of last season's pre-season, the centre forward made no secret of his burning desire to make Gareth Southgate's World Cup squad.

His annus horribilis has not snuffed out the flickers of hope.

"As soon as I got injured at the Wolves game, obviously people saw I was emotional during the game but two days later when I went and got the scan and found out what I'd done, it was literally in my head that I can either sit and be grumpy and down about it, or in my head set myself a target," he said.

"So everything I was doing then, my mind was on the World Cup to be honest. It helped me through the offseason, I made some differences through the offseason. It's up to me to try and play the start of this season well and see what happens."