Across the vast expanse of a 47-day gap between Premier League matches for Leeds United, one small 24-hour window has seen everything change. While Tyler Adams and Brenden Aaronson were watching orange shirts dance in Qatar, their club colleagues were getting acquainted with their new Spanish lodgings.
As Adams and Aaronson face the last vestiges of American media attention in the 2022 World Cup this morning, Jesse Marsch and a large Whites contingent will be waking up in Spain. Leeds interest has seamlessly pivoted from their boys on the international stage to the business at hand.
Manchester City will visit Elland Road in 24 days and there is no moment to waste. After a week’s rest, the United squad began training programmes at home and then reported to Thorp Arch at the start of this week.
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Testing was followed by training and a match behind closed doors on Friday afternoon before they flew out en masse to Valencia on Saturday. A five-day training camp starts today, culminating in Thursday’s clash at Elche.
Time outside the Thorp Arch bubble allows Marsch, his staff and players to focus on training, and each other between sessions, with temperatures in the mid-teens rather than the sub-5C days they could expect back home. Real Sociedad and Monaco round out a top-flight triple-header in December which gives Marsch the tests he needs on the pitch before honing his City plan after Christmas.
Aaronson and Adams are now expected to join Rasmus Kristensen in taking some time to recuperate after their World Cup exertions before returning to training later in the month. An update is needed on Luis Sinisterra’s Lisfranc injury, but everyone else is expected to be in Spain based on Marsch’s pre-Tottenham Hotspur medical report.
Stuart Dallas may not be in full training, but the head coach has maintained for several weeks the Northern Ireland international would at least be with the group for their December camp. Adam Forshaw, Jack Harrison and Mateusz Klich, missing at Spurs, were pictured in training this week, though it still remains to be seen if Patrick Bamford is fit to train on the continent.
With no further Leeds involvement in the Middle East, there are no more distractions or obstacles between them and the return to league action, especially with the City match now in view on the calendar. Two wins, and a very near miss, from the final three games before the break have lifted spirits at Elland Road, but the league position remains precarious.
The Whites are three places and two points clear of the drop zone with a game in hand and more than half of the campaign still to play. In this, what is hopefully the last major disruption of the season, Marsch knows he has a priceless opportunity to chisel away at the imperfections of the opening 14 matches.
Double sessions are expected on pitches in far better condition than those they had in Australia, with a gym on site too. It’s a chance for fringe names to catch Marsch’s eye as well.
With Kristensen away, Luke Ayling has a window of opportunity to stake his claim, while Junior Firpo has some clear space to knuckle down on his left-back duties. Forshaw and Bamford get the chance to hit reset on injury-riddled seasons too.
Darko Gyabi, Mateo Joseph and Sonny Perkins, pictured at the training ground with the first team and not the under-21s battered by Valencia on Friday, should also expect chances in the coming friendlies. LeedsLive will be in Spain throughout the week and in Elche for live coverage of Thursday’s friendly.
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