Leeds United team news - Marcelo Bielsa grants early leave to international pair ahead of Southampton clash

Marcelo Bielsa has granted early leave to a pair of Leeds United's international players with their potential European Championships involvement in mind.
MISSED OUT - Robin Koch sat out Leeds United's game at Burnley with a minor knock. Pic: GettyMISSED OUT - Robin Koch sat out Leeds United's game at Burnley with a minor knock. Pic: Getty
MISSED OUT - Robin Koch sat out Leeds United's game at Burnley with a minor knock. Pic: Getty

Robin Koch and Mateusz Klich, who have hopes of playing for Germany and Poland in the Euros this summer, will not feature again this season for the Whites.

In the case of Koch, a hip niggle kept him out of Saturday's trip to Burnley and according to Bielsa the Whites are simply taking precautionary measures to protect him from further damage ahead of an important summer. The centre-half's first Elland Road season was disrupted by knee surgery but he has managed two full 90-minute run outs recently against Spurs and Brighton.

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Klich is not carrying a knock but Bielsa believes the decision for him to finish the season early is best for the player.

"Koch has been given early leave with the potential for him to be called up, or not called up, to the national team," said Bielsa.

"The injury he has is not important, we didn't want to take the risk of him playing and making it worse. We anticipated his holidays in the same way we did for Klich. In this case he wasn't injured but we thought we could anticipate his holidays for one week.

"I don't know if he's going to be called up to the national team or not. He has a small niggle and we didn't want to run the risk of a small niggle being aggravated into something bigger.

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"Klich is not injured. The evolutions that I make over the campaign and for the needs of each player and in the case of Klich the decision I made I think was the most favourable one for him."

Bielsa may be able to count on Pablo Hernandez for tomorrow's visit to Southampton however.

"With relation to Pablo we're going to see how he is in training to see how he is," said the head coach.

Club captain Liam Cooper returned to fitness for the game against the Clarets, although Bielsa kept Pascal Struijk in the centre of his defence.