Injuries were a narrative Leeds United wanted to leave behind them firmly in the past with last season’s 17th place. Yet there is one niggle at risk of spoiling one key player’s pre-season.
Captain Liam Cooper, so influential in the dressing room and on the field down the run-in last term, is struggling with a lingering Achilles issue. The 30-year-old is in a race to see any match time before the season starts.
At the start of the pre-season tour in Australia it became clear Cooper was not training with the main group under Jesse Marsch. The initial hope was the captain might miss the Brisbane Roar and Aston Villa games, but see some action against Crystal Palace before the flight home.
