Leeds United’s Georginio Rutter has been one of the stars of the Championship season.
Over the next eight games, Rutter will be looking to end his brilliant campaign on a high and help Leeds get over the line for an immediate return to the Premier League.
Perhaps importantly, Rutter has had the chance to earn a decent rest over the international break, having pulled out of France’s U21s squad.
Unfortunately, however, he has spent the last week and a half recovering from minor surgery on a hernia, an issue which is said to have been plaguing him for a number of weeks now.
Daniel Farke seemed pretty optimistic in his press conference yesterday, though, that he could be in contention for tomorrow’s match at Watford, having already been involved in parts of team training, which would be a massive boost for Leeds.
Rutter said himself after the recent win over Millwall that it was not his best performance and it has been that way for a number of weeks now, yet he has still been delivering a consistent output.
It is now clear as to why Rutter wasn’t quite hitting the same performance levels he had been earlier in the season, but it is a testament to him that he kept playing through the pain barrier to help Leeds continue an incredible run.
Rutter has chance to break a Championship record in final eight matches
As mentioned, while Rutter’s overall performance may have dropped, his output certainly didn’t. Against Millwall he registered both assists in a 2-0 win, which shows what he offers the team even when not at his best.
That brace of assists took him up to 15 for the season in the Championship, which is the most across the entire division so far, just ahead of impressive former Leeds left-back Leif Davis at Ipswich Town.
Graham Dorrans, Michael Kightly and Harry Wilson actually all hold the record for the most assists in a single campaign at this level, having all registered 19 over different seasons across the last few years.
However, Leeds star Rutter certainly has the opportunity to break that record, as he is just four away with eight matches still to play.
Having still been providing assists while carrying an injury, the surgery he has had is only likely to help his game, which is a menacing prospect for those who currently hold the record at the moment.
What Farke said about Rutter’s chances of playing vs Watford
Obviously Rutter is likely going to have to play every single game to have a realistic chance of breaking the record.
Tomorrow looks set to be the only match in which he could be a doubt for as a result of the surgery, but at the same time, Farke certainly sounded pretty confident that he will make it in some capacity.
He said: “We have the time to give the surgery for Georginio Rutter and because in the last weeks during the international break, he was terrific but played with pain.
“He was still there with many crucial moments but then it’s also quite normal you can transport an injury for a few weeks but not for months because at some point you will pay the price. He is on the road back, he was already involved in parts of team training. That was definitely a positive thing.”