Leeds United news: Jesse Marsch weighing up good and bad of injuries to goalscoring options

First the bad news. Leeds United assistant head coach René Marić could not put a timeline on Patrick Bamford’s return to the pitch after undergoing minor groin surgery this month.

The 29-year-old striker’s season has once again been plagued by injury with the ex-Middlesbrough forward featuring just four times from the start in the Premier League during 2022/23.

Jesse Marsch and head of medicine and performance Rob Price have been forced to manage Bamford’s workload closely in order to avoid recurrences of minor injuries that robbed him of continuity last season.

Still, the Leeds attacker has picked up general wear-and-tear issues, the latest of which required surgery on his groin, although it is not thought his time on the sidelines for this particular problem should be an extensive one.

That said, assistant head coach Marić was not keen to put a definitive date on Bamford’s return following the Whites’ 2-1 win over Real Sociedad on Friday night.

Bamford played no part in Leeds’ friendly triumphs over Elche or La Real and is unlikely to be involved in the squad to face AS Monaco on Wednesday. This further casts doubt on his readiness for the return of the Premier League season when Manchester City visit Elland Road next week.

“I think this rehab process is even more [unclear], for instance, is not as clear as with Diego [Llorente], how it will progress, so it's very hard to say something accurate about it,” Marić said of Bamford’s groin surgery rehab.And now for some good news...relatively good news. Marić was hopeful, though, that Dutch forward Crysencio Summerville may be involved before the end of the calendar year despite being substituted minutes into Leeds’ win versus Elche with a suspected ankle injury.

“We’re hoping that he can start training in the next week and from there it's day-to-day also,” he said. Due to Summerville’s recent involvement, he will not need a lengthy period to get match fit.