Joe Rodon could be absent until November after what Daniel Farke called a serious hamstring injury in Leeds United’s Brentford draw on Sunday.An assessment of the centre-back’s injury has indicated he will be sidelined for eight to 10 weeks.Rodon, 28, pulled up in the first half of Sunday’s match and limped off. Speaking in his pre-match press conference on Thursday, Farke indicated Rodon would certainly be missing until after the forthcoming international break and may not be available until November arrives.“Bad news with him,” Farke said ahead of Saturday’s trip to Brighton & Hove Albion. “(He has a) serious hamstring injury and will be out for eight to 10 weeks, so he will definitely not play before the next international break.“Also, probably not the first games after the international break. Of course, it’s a big blow for us because he’s a key player, but it’s football and sometimes you have to deal with injuries.”
Leeds concluded the summer transfer window with the arrivals of left-back Melvin Bard and winger Jean-Matteo Bahoya. Farke was asked for his thoughts on the window and where it left the squad.After the misfortune of Rodon’s injury, the manager conceded better luck would be needed across the rest of the group.“Not all the wishes are always completely fulfilled, but I would say 90, 95 per cent of what we wanted to do is really good,” he said. “We also need a bit of luck in the offence, perhaps there are no injuries to some key players.”Leeds will miss leader RodonLosing Rodon is a major blow for Leeds. He has been one of the key players at Elland Road in the Farke era and so rarely injured too.When he limped off in Sunday’s draw, the hope was he may only miss two or three matches, with the three-week international break falling at the right time. As it is, even with that break, Rodon could be absent for eight matches at the more severe end of the scale, and even then he would need a few more weeks to rebuild his fitness.The one silver lining may be the fact that this came before the transfer window closed. Had Rodon remained fit, it is likely Leeds may not have added anyone else in defence. As it was, they had time to add Bard.Nico Elvedi has swiftly looked very dependable as one of the team’s three centre-backs, while James Justin proved to be one of the team’s most consistent players across the defence last season.Rodon is a leader they will miss but, provided nobody else in defence is forced onto the sidelines, United should have enough quality in the squad to compensate for his absence.
