Pre-season finally gets underway at Leeds United on Monday and despite a number of futures remaining up in the air after relegation, only those with international commitments have been excused from day one. Unless any 11th-hour transfers emerge over the weekend, the Whites are expecting all of their players who have had a full break since relegation to turn up.
The summer programme gets underway with the usual array of tests at Leeds Beckett University. It remains to be seen whether United will have a head coach in place, but head of medicine and performance Rob Price will be overseeing the programme across the opening few days of July.
There may be a number of players expecting to seal moves away from Elland Road this summer, but none have thus far been told they can stay clear until their next moves have been secured. An array of club performance staff and university experts have put players through their paces for the first few days of pre-season in past years.
All kinds of measurements are taken from the players, but the expected absentees from the first day back should only be those with shortened summers. Liam Cooper, Rasmus Kristensen, Wilfried Gnonto, Max Wober and Daniel James are among those likely to be given more time off after international duty.
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Marc Roca and Diego Llorente, for example, are expected to report for pre-season training on day one, despite the fact they are set to leave United in the near future. The likes of Jamie Shackleton, Lewis Bate and Ian Poveda, former loanees with unclear futures, should be around on day one despite prospective moves away before September 1.
While there will be a number of players missing, there should still be a healthy quota for the staff to get to work with. Tyler Adams and Stuart Dallas’s participation will be contingent on their recoveries from injury, while Adam Forshaw and Joel Robles could decline the invitations to attend pre-season without contract offers being on the table.
Junior Firpo, Robin Koch, Jack Harrison, Adams and Luis Sinisterra may be tipped for exits, but as it stands, there is no reason why they should not be reporting for duty on day one.
Players due to be involved:
- Luke Ayling
- Junior Firpo
- Robin Koch
- Marc Roca
- Patrick Bamford
- Jack Harrison
- Tyler Adams (injury dependent)
- Stuart Dallas (injury dependent)
- Sonny Perkins
- Darko Gyabi
- Pascal Struijk
- Luis Sinisterra
- Georginio Rutter
- Dani van den Heuvel
- Sam Greenwood
- Mateo Joseph
- Archie Gray
- Jamie Shackleton
- Lewis Bate
- Cody Drameh
- Joe Gelhardt
- Diego Llorente
- Ian Poveda
Players invited:
- Adam Forshaw
- Joel Robles
Players due to return later:
- Illan Meslier
- Liam Cooper
- Brenden Aaronson
- Crysencio Summerville
- Kristoffer Klaesson
- Rodrigo
- Rasmus Kristensen
- Wilfried Gnonto
- Max Wober
- Daniel James
- Leo Hjelde
- Helder Costa
- Charlie Cresswell
