Daniel Farke confirms Leeds United injury blow ahead of Brentford
Leeds United boss Daniel Farke has been speaking to the press ahead of Sunday's Premier League meeting with Brentford.
Daniel Farke has confirmed striker Lukas Nmecha hasn’t yet returned to team training and will therefore miss Leeds United’s weekend trip to Brentford
Nmecha missed last weekend’s dramatic 3-3 draw at home to Liverpool with a hamstring issue picked up against Chelsea the prior Wednesday. Farke said at the time he was hopeful of having the striker back available for Sunday’s trip to Brentford but after further assessment, he has once again been ruled out.
“Sadly he will also miss this game,” Farke said of Nmecha on Friday. “He also had a re-scan and it's still not completely healed. He's definitely out for this game.
“It’s difficult. The first step will be for him to return back to team training. Of course I would like to have him back as soon as possible. Hopefully for the Crystal Palace game but each and every day matters.
“We decide it from game to game, first step he has to return back to team training and he’s not back in team training yet. He’s doing individual work with our rehab coaches so for that, no chance to be involved this weekend.”
Sean Longstaff remains sidelined with a calf injury he suffered during last month’s defeat against Aston Villa, with the midfielder three weeks into an initial four-to-six week recovery period. Winger Dan James is likely to be out until mid-January at the least due a hamstring tendon injury.
Daniel Farke’s Leeds United injury update
“It’s always a bit difficult because Sean Longstaff, Daniel James and Lukas are important players for us,” Farke added. “Of course you would prefer to have them all available but also it’s Premier League football and the busy December, busy festive period so you would expect sometimes that a player is not available due illness, injury or perhaps with yellow cards.
“It's always a chance for a different player to shine. For that we don't use it as an excuse as we have not done in the last weeks when Sean or DJ was not available. We also won't use it as an excuse or for feeling sorry for ourselves right now. We travel with what we’ve got.
“Like always after a busy week there are some hits and knocks. But not too bad, everyone else should be available.”
Weekend hosts Brentford will be without German international forward Kevin Schade, who picked up his fifth booking of the season at Tottenham Hotspur last weekend and is therefore suspended. Fabio Carvalho, Antoni Milambo and Josh Dasilva remain sidelined while on-loan Arsenal winger Reiss Nelson could return to the squad after recovering from a knock.