Pre-season is expected to begin at Leeds United in 10 days, even if a new head coach is yet to be appointed at the time of writing. Whoever the man at the helm is will be met with a vastly reduced squad on their first day of the summer programme.
In recent years, summer has started with testing at Leeds Beckett University, where head of medicine and performance Rob Price takes the lead. 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 there are expected to be a number of absentees from the first day back in the new training wear. Liam Cooper, Rasmus Kristensen, Wilfried Gnonto, Max Wober and Daniel James are among those likely to be given more time off after international duty.
Transfers are expected to dictate the entire summer at Leeds after relegation and the first day of pre-season is bound to reflect that too. There will be some faces moved on in the next 10 days and others who are told to stay away ahead of expected departures from the club.
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Marc Roca and Diego Llorente, for example, would be expected to report for pre-season training on day one, but they are set to leave United in the near future. It will be interesting to see what instructions the likes of Jamie Shackleton, Lewis Bate and Ian Poveda, former loanees with unclear futures, are given ahead of their returns too.
While there will be a number of players missing, there should still be a healthy quota for the new head coach 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
