Leeds United defender Pascal Struijk underwent groin surgery last year after an initial period of 'conservative' rehabilitation, which is the course of action decided upon for club captain Ethan Ampadu.

Ampadu will miss the next four-to-six weeks at least, according to Daniel Farke, but will not undergo surgery after receiving additional consultation on a knee cartilage injury.

The skipper sat out Monday night's 3-1 win over Sheffield United after sustaining the injury in training and was due to undergo a re-scan to determine the severity of the damage this week.

A decision has been taken to postpone surgery, which would have ruled the Wales international out for the remainder of the season, with 'conservative' rehabilitation decided upon as the course of action instead.

"We have, after more consultations, decided to try the conservative route," Daniel Farke said at Thursday's press conference. "There's a good chance if rehab works properly it will be successful but it still means he'll be out for four-to-six weeks. We won't see him back in team training before the international break. Fingers crossed we'll at least have him available for the run in. There's still a chance he will still need the surgery. Fingers crossed, 50-50 chance to have him back for the run in."

Conservative methods were also used to rehabilitate Struijk from a groin injury last season, which was initially thought to be a minor issue but ended up robbing Leeds of the Dutch centre-back for the entire second half of the campaign.

At the end of March, the defender went under the knife, to ensure his issue was dealt with in plenty of time for him to make a return during pre-season, fully fit and injury-free.

It could be that Leeds' rehab work with Ampadu over the next six weeks may not be as effective as is hoped. If the team continue in their current vein, though, going 16 league games unbeaten for the first time since 1992, surgery for Ampadu might be deemed appropriate in order to ensure of his participation in pre-season, minus the lingering issue of a possible injury recurrence.

Midfield partner Ilia Gruev sustained a similar knee injury earlier in the campaign, undergoing a surgical procedure to remedy the problem. After making a speedy recovery, given the circumstances of the injury, Gruev has been able to play a part in several of Leeds' recent fixtures, suggesting a full recovery for Ampadu is likely but will ultimately take time.

The skipper will be keen to get a full pre-season under his belt, especially if United manage to clinch promotion. He will also be torn by the fact guaranteeing his fitness over the summer could potentially hinge on surgery before the end of this season, should Leeds' rehabilitative methods not have the desired effect.

This would rule the club captain out for the run-in, denying him from partaking in fixtures which are likely to see Leeds promoted and perhaps even lift the Championship title.