'A lot of tears' - Leeds United summer exit opens up on injury nightmare as serious physical questions asked
The defender endured a nightmare year of injury before mutually agreeing to terminate his Leeds United contract in the summer.
Leeds United summer exit Max Wober questioned his body’s ability to cope with top-level football after missing the World Cup with Austria through injury.
Wober spent the 2025/26 campaign on loan at Werder Bremen having played a fringe role in Leeds’ Championship title-winning season, but suffered a serious injury on debut in August. The defender would go on to play just two more games, each off the bench, but disaster struck in what would prove his final appearance.
Coming off the bench in a game against Stuttgart in early May, Wober felt a sharp pain in his knee when taking a throw-in and was substituted after just 11 minutes. The injury capped off a nightmare year for the out-on-loan Leeds man who subsequently missed out on Austria’s 2026 World Cup campaign.
“I had the feeling that it simply wasn’t meant to be anymore,” Wober told reporters, as quoted by Get German Football News, having joined up with the Austria squad for the current break. “I still played on for a few minutes because I couldn’t let myself be substituted again after 15 seconds.
“There were a lot of tears because the World Cup was the big motivator that carried me through the years. Naturally one asks oneself whether the body can still cope and whether I can play at this level again without getting injured.”
Those injury issues reduced the potential pool of suitors for Wober in the summer, with Leeds keen to get the centre-back off their books. In the end, Elland Road chiefs decided on a mutually agreed contract termination and he joined Schalke on a free transfer.
As reported by the YEP at the time, a sell-on clause was included in Wober’s £10million move to Leeds in 2023, entitling former club RB Salzburg to a portion of any future transfer. That, coupled with a season marred by serious injury, meant any sale would have seen the Whites book a minimal fee.
Wober has been carefully managed at new club Schalke, with four Bundesliga appearances all coming from the bench. Earlier this month, he was introduced for the final few minutes against Union Berlin and sprinted the entire length of the pitch to finish a Hwang Hee-Chan cross and make it 3-1 to his side.
“I’ve been built up superbly,” the former Leeds man added. “I can now go full throttle and don’t have to worry anymore about whether I’m training too much or too little. I feel very good and have 100 percent confidence in my body again. The negative thoughts are all gone now.”