Daniel Farke had mixed news to bring on the injury front for Leeds United in his press conference on Friday.
Farke was speaking ahead of his side’s play-off semi-final first leg trip to former club Norwich City tomorrow, where they will be looking to secure a positive result ahead of the return fixture at Elland Road on Thursday.
Leeds were without four players for last weekend’s final defeat to Southampton with Pascal Struijk and Stuart Dallas already confirmed to be out for the season.
Dan James and Patrick Bamford were also absent, though the former looks set to return to the bench at Carrow Road after taking part in some aspects of team training this week.
Bamford, however, has already been ruled out of both legs with his knee injury worse than first feared, and that is undoubtedly a big blow to Farke’s side.
Joel Piroe could have chance to finally justify Leeds outlay
Having effectively thrown away automatic promotion with four defeats in their last six matches, the play-offs represent a second chance for Leeds.
Due to their end to the season, Leeds will have to make Championship history if they are to be promoted and based on the stats, they would have had a better chance with Bamford available.
Leeds have a win rate of 73.3 per cent in the 15 matches Bamford has started this season, in comparison to just 51.6 per cent in the remaining 31.
Farke has opted against giving youngster Mateo Joseph a chance in Bamford’s absence and so with that in mind, Joel Piroe looks likely to be the man to get the nod.
Piroe has scored 13 goals since his £10.5 million arrival from Swansea City last summer but in truth, has been a little disappointing.
Though he did find the net last week, his recent performances when leading the line in big matches against Blackburn Rovers and QPR were not good enough.
As mentioned, while this is a second chance for Leeds, it is the same for Piroe. He really needs to turn up in these crucial fixtures for Farke’s side to make it to Wembley.
If he is to score the goals that fire Leeds to the final and potentially even the Premier League, he would’ve more than justified that big price tag regardless of some of his displays in the regular season.
Leeds owe Swansea City £3m for Piroe if promoted
Piroe was Leeds’ most expensive signing last summer and as mentioned, he has not really lived up to his expensive price tag.
And Leeds would actually owe his former club Swansea City an extra £3 million if they are to win the play-offs this month.
That is a figure Leeds certainly would not mind paying at all, as ultimately it would mean the ‘superb’ Piroe has played his part in getting the job done.