Leeds United supporters have claimed Javi Gracia has no excuse not to select Wilfried Gnonto after Luis Sinisterra was ruled out for the rest of the season.
Sinisterra hobbled off with an ankle injury in the 1-1 draw against Leicester City after breaking the deadlock with a 20th minute header.
Gracia has now confirmed that the Colombian international will miss the final five games of the campaign.
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"Luis is out for the rest of the season. No I don't think so [a repeat of his previous injury], it's something in his ankle, in the ligament," Gracia revealed.
"It’s tough for us to lose key players but I prefer not to complain, be positive, give value to all the players I have.
"I have enough players to compete better, try to work with them and find with them the way to compete better to get the results we need and achieve the objective we have.”
Gracia has come under heavy criticism for his reluctance to start Gnonto, with the 19-year-old playing only 212 minutes in the Premier League since the Spaniard took charge in February.
And Leeds supporters have called for Gnonto to be restored to the starting XI against Bournemouth following Sinisterra's latest blow.
@HealyFtbl Sinisterra out for the season is such a massive blow for us. Javi must play Gnonto now. There is no excuse.
@nigelwalton01 Well, Sinisterra is out for the season. It's got to be time for Gnonto to save this season for Leeds. It's like it was written all along.
@19dob92 Sinisterra out for the rest of the season. Wober not training and a doubt. When it rains it pours.
@LeeB_LUFC Can't believe we've lost Sinisterra now. Adams and Wober being broken was bad enough but Sini's been the main source of quality in the final third recently. It's always the most valuable ones with us isn't it.
@Jroutledge3 If we’d had Sinisterra fit for the whole season we wouldn’t be in the mess we are. He is class will be a massive miss for these last games. We won’t see him In a Leeds shirt again.
@billywigwam13 Sinisterra is a big loss. There are goals in him but has had a lot of injuries & this one comes at a really bad time On the positive side, surely injury to Sinisterra has to open more minutes for Gnonto. What do you say Mr Gracia?
@JoshAHobbs If we stay up, it’s absolutely vital that Sinisterra gets a proper pre-season. I’d wager a lot of his injury problems this season have been to do with the fact that he got injured pre-season and hasn’t had the proper conditioning since. Feel like that’s why he kept breaking down.
@Jack_T_92 Genuinely didn’t even think the impact from the tackle on Sinisterra was that bad.
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