Surprises emerged from the opening days of Leeds United’s pre-season programme. While there should be nothing surprising about someone turning up for a job they are paid tens of thousands of pounds a week to do, this is football.
It’s a club stocked with players assessing their options after relegation and, in some cases, hoping for moves before the Championship gets its claws in. Reasons and excuses can be found for players to miss the first few days of pre-season.
Robin Koch and Diego Llorente, for example, have not had any international duty to hide behind this summer, yet they stayed away from West Yorkshire. With transfers nearing conclusion, they were excused, but there are others, expected to leave before September 1, you could have seen dodging the first week.
Club captain Liam Cooper was actually something of a surprise too. Not because he’s become a work-shy, wantaway, Premier League starlet, but because he was with Scotland 13 days earlier.
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Rest is important to footballers in these increasingly long campaigns which can bleed into 11 or 12 months of relentless action. Admittedly, Cooper did not see a lot of minutes last season and will be far less jaded than many.
The 31-year-old has only started seven games for the Whites in 2023 and may not have felt like he needed the extended rest, but it was there for him. There were some trips away, like every player, with friends and family, but those Scotland games on June 17 and 20 blew a hole in any plans for extended rest between the Tottenham Hotspur season closer and pre-season testing on July 3.
Cooper would not seek praise for doing his day job seven days earlier than he may have had to, but the impression it makes, the message it sends is notable. In a summer which is full of upheaval, turbulence and change, seeing some examples set by senior members of the dressing room can be no bad thing.
When a lot of players will be moving in and out of the club, constants like Cooper can be a stabilising factor at the training ground. Time will tell whether the centre-back even makes himself a regular starter in the countdown season to his 10th anniversary at the club.
Staying fit and available will be the first hurdle he has to clear and by starting pre-season early he is giving himself the best chance to start as he means to go on. Max Wober’s impression will not have been lost on Cooper though.
The Austrian was commanding and as impressive as he could be in a defence which was badly malfunctioning around him last term. Wober is understood to have made it clear he wants to play on in the second tier and assuming unforeseen interest does not materialise, he will be a strong candidate for starting regularly in the Championship.
Cooper knows the fight is on for his shirt in a back-four shape Daniel Farke favours. Starting early and setting the standard is the best way he can get off on the right foot with the new manager.
