Pundit makes Bamford claim after news Leeds fans ‘will be celebrating’
Leeds United fans will be “celebrating” Patrick Bamford’s return to fitness ahead of Sunday’s clash against Brentford, according to Alan Hutton.
The former Scotland defender, speaking exclusively to Football Insider, admitted the Whites have seriously missed the 28-year-old during his layoff.
As confirmed at Marcelo Bielsa’s press conference on Friday (3 December), Bamford is in contention to play against the Bees (5 December).
The striker has missed Leeds’ last nine league games with an ankle injury.
He stepped up his recovery this week, playing 90 minutes for the Whites’ under-23s on Monday (29 November).
Hutton admitted Bamford had been a big miss in recent weeks and his return would get the Elland Road faithful bouncing.
Hutton told Football Insider’s Russell Edge: “The fans will be celebrating, I’m pretty sure.
“He’s been on the road to recovery, 90 minutes this week. You know how hectic the Christmas period can be.
“To have him back, they’ve really missed him. There’s no getting away from that. You sometimes don’t realise how much you miss a player until he’s not there.
“His work rate, his goals, everything that he brings, his link-up play. So they’ll be desperate to get him back.”
Bamford scored once in five league games before being ruled out of action.
Bielsa has played Tyler Roberts, Rodrigo, Dan James and Jack Harrison as centre-forwards in his absence.
Leeds won three, drew three and lost three of the nine games Bamford missed.
They head into Sunday’s game off the back of Tuesday’s (30 November) dramatic 1-0 win over Crystal Palace.
In other news, pundit claims Leeds United ‘have number of targets’ lined up as senior exit on the cards.