Leeds United's plan for Pascal Struijk injury update as Daniel Farke makes transfer stance hint

Struijk has damanged his hamstring and could be out for three weeks, but the club want to rescan the area in order to make sure the tendon is not also injured because that would see him miss months of action. Prior to the win over Sheffield Wednesday Farke said Leeds would get the injury rescanned this week once the fluid and swelling had subsided to get a better idea of the full extent of the damage. He also admitted that with the benefit of last year’s experience, when Struijk suffered a groin problem and was initially expected back in a couple of weeks only to miss the remainder of the season, Leeds would look into the possibility of January transfer business in the centre-back position.

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On Sunday it was the expected solution to which Farke turned. Just like in the second half of last season Ampadu dropped back from midfield to partner Joe Rodon and the pair picked up yet another clean sheet. Farke said: “We had Joe and Ethan, our Welsh wall, last season. It was a record in terms of clean sheets, our stability was really good. But we're lacking a bit of the physicality and street smarts of Ethan in midfield. We don't have 100 per cent similar player to him in this area. On the other hand with Pascal Struijk we are also still even a bit bigger and taller and stronger in terms of attacking and defending set pieces. But what should we do? If Pascal is not available we need to find some good solutions.”

Farke was asked if Ampadu would represent an answer to the problem from now on if Struijk was facing a worst case scenario but the manager was not prepared to answer in the affirmative. Leeds have been linked with Nottingham Forest centre-back Andrew Omobamidele, who is right footed but has some experience of playing on the left side of a centre-back partnership. The YEP understands the 22-year-old was a player of interest in previous transfer windows. Should Farke receive bad news on Struijk then it seems more likely that he turns to the mid-season transfer market than to Ampadu for a permanent solution.

“For this game it was the best solution,” said Farke. “I trust Ethan to play there. I wouldn't say he’s our solution right now for the run in but we know he can produce good performances with Joe. But there are some other options and hopefully there will be some other options soon. I hope Pascal is not too long out, we will see.”

Leeds host Norwich City on Wednesday night at Elland Road when Struijk will once again miss out and Ampadu is likely to resume his centre-back partnership with Rodon. But an update on Struijk’s condition is not expected until Farke sits down with the media on Thursday afternoon at 4pm to preview the visit to Burnley.