Leeds United man withdrawn from international duty with Fulham availability update
Leeds United head to Craven Cottage in just under two week's time.
Leeds United defender Joe Rodon has been withdrawn from the Wales squad for this month's games against Kazakhstan and Canada.
The centre-half joined up with the national team after Saturday's 0-0 draw with Newcastle United at Elland Road and was in line for his 55th cap in the World Cup qualifier on Thursday against Kazakhstan. But Wales have confirmed that the Leeds man is among a raft of withdrawals.
They confirmed that Tom King, Rhys Norrington-Davies and Joel Colwill have been called up to join the squad, replacing Danny Ward, Jay Dasilva, Rodon and Nathan Broadhead. Though no reason has been given for Rodon's exit, the YEP understands that he is expected to be fine to face Fulham on the other side of the international break.
Rodon was involved in a heavy mid-air collision during Saturday's game after winning a header and being caught by Will Osula. The defender has played every minute of Leeds' three Premier League games so far this season, contributing to two clean sheets and suffering a disappointing 5-0 beating at Arsenal.
Though Leeds recruited a pair of centre-halves in the form of Jaka Bijol and Sebastiaan Bornauw, Rodon has remained Daniel Farke's first choice for the right side of his central defence. Wales are now without two of their key Leeds United men, having already lost Ethan Ampadu to the MCL injury currently keeping him out of action at club level.
But Daniel James and Karl Darlow are part of Craig Bellamy's squad this week. Leeds came close to adding to their Welsh contingent on deadline day with a late move for Harry Wilson that Fulham eventually rejected.
The Whites wanted to sign a last attacker for Farke's forward line and Wilson fit the bill thanks to his Premier League experience as a right winger and number 10. The 28-year-old's set-piece expertise was another box that needed to be ticked in the window.
Managing director Robbie Evans insisted the deal was not a make or break factor for Leeds' survival hopes. He said: “When you look at a 25-man roster with 10 entrants, I think it's very unlikely that that one thing ends up being the deciding factor.
“So on the one hand, you'd like to tick every single box, but at the end of the day for us, the 24 guys we woke up with yesterday versus the 25 we could have had, will probably only incrementally change our odds long term, of winning or failing in our goal to stay up."