Leeds United unclear on 29-year-old’s return after surgery while coach shares positive injury news

The 29-year-old striker’s season has once again been plagued by injury with the ex-Middlesbrough forward featuring just four times from the start in the Premier League during 2022/23. Jesse Marsch and head of medicine and performance Rob Price have been forced to manage Bamford’s workload closely in order to avoid recurrences of minor injuries that robbed him of continuity last season.

Still, the Leeds attacker has picked up general wear-and-tear issues, the latest of which requiring surgery on his groin, although it is not thought his time on the sidelines for this particular problem should be an extensive one. That said, assistant head coach Marić was not keen to put a definitive date on Bamford’s return following the Whites’ 2-1 win over Real Sociedad last weekend.

Bamford played no part in Leeds’ friendly triumphs over Elche or La Real and is altogether unlikely to be involved in the squad to face AS Monaco this Wednesday. This further casts doubt on his readiness for the return of the Premier League season when Manchester City visit Elland Road next week.

“I think this rehab process is even more [unclear], for instance, is not as clear as with Diego [Llorente], how it will progress, so it's very hard to say something accurate about it,” Marić said of Bamford’s groin surgery rehab.

Marić was hopeful, though, that Dutch forward Crysencio Summerville may be involved before the end of the calendar year despite being substituted minutes into Leeds’ win versus Elche with a suspected ankle injury.

“We’re hoping that he can start training in the next week and from there it's day-to-day also,” he said. Due to Summerville’s recent involvement, the 21-year-old will not require a lengthy period to regain match fitness, either.