Leeds United striker Patrick Bamford has had a torrid time with injuries in the past few years, and the constant setbacks mean he’s a player that the club just can’t put their faith in anymore.
The drop off from Marcelo Bielsa getting Leeds into ninth position in the Premier League, to the following campaign was a sombre glimpse into what the future held for the club if they continued leaning too heavily on the same group of players.
Long-term injuries for a lot of these players followed, with Patrick Bamford perhaps the one remaining player from that contingent that has found peak fitness hard to come by since 2021.
Patrick Bamford suffers adductor injury this week
Bamford came off the bench late into the 0-0 draw at Ashton Gate last weekend, but that five-minute cameo meant he was only up to 45 minutes of action this season.
It comes amid several injury issues for the striker, and his latest came in the aftermath between this game and the Plymouth Argyle meeting this weekend.
The 31-year-old was confirmed by Farke to be suffering with an adductor problem, leaving him a minor doubt for Saturday.
Is it time up for Bamford at Leeds after latest injury?
What is most infuriating for Leeds and most certainly for Bamford too is that he’s barely playing, and still constantly finding himself picking up injuries.
This cycle has been never-ending for him ever since the 2021 England call-up at the peak of his career, now unable to get himself into consistent goalscoring form – outside of last season’s unbeaten run where he was very good.
Can Bamford break this rut of recovering from injury, then getting back into the squad, and then getting another setback because he’s not sharp? It’s looking less and less likely that it’s possible at Elland Road.
There’s only so many times that Leeds can head into a season and force themselves to lean on players to be important when injuries simply won’t allow them to be.
It looked from the start of this season like Mateo Joseph and Joel Piroe being the main starters would reduce the pressure on Bamford to keep up his fitness at 100%, but he’s had the opposite results.
There has to come a point where the club and Bamford start to think that an exit is the best possible route for him going forward, away from the high pressures and stresses of promotion or relegation as is the case at Leeds, and that time might be sooner than his 2026 contract expiry.
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