Daniel Farke aims thinly-veiled instructions to Craig Bellamy over one of his Leeds United stars

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Daniel Farke is almost at that point of the season again where he has to watch several of his Leeds United stars fly away on international duty.

No Championship club has had more players jet off to represent their respective countries than Leeds in each of the last two breaks, and it is likely to be the same again this time around.

Karl Darlow, Joe Rodon, Max Wober, Junior Firpo, Ao Tanaka, Charlie Crew, Wilfried Gnonto, Brenden Aaronson, Dan James, Manor Solomon, Joel Piroe, Mateo Joseph all look set to be called up again this month.

Leeds have two matches against Millwall and Queens Park Rangers to get through first, with the tight turnaround certainly leaving scope for potential injuries.

With Ethan Ampadu, Ilia Gruev and Largie Ramazani still out, Farke can’t really afford to lose anyone else to injury and so the international break is always a nervy period for everyone at Elland Road.

• READ MORE: Daniel Farke tells ‘struggling’ Leeds United player to ‘step up’ in training if he wants to play more

Farke’s Dan James advice for Wales boss Craig Bellamy

Wales is the country in which Leeds have the most representatives for, and Craig Bellamy has already announced his squad for upcoming fixtures against Turkey and Iceland.

Darlow, Rodon and James have all been selected by Bellamy, with the latter still looking to regain full match sharpness after injury.

James has missed both of Wales’ last two international camps and only returned to action after a hamstring injury in the middle of last month.

His superb goal against Plymouth Argyle on Saturday represented a big step forward in his performance levels, though it was just his second start since August.

Farke was asked about James’ call-up for Wales in his pre-Millwall press conference earlier this afternoon and admitted he would ‘prefer’ it if he didn’t play the full 90 minutes across both matches, but is confident Bellamy will handle him correctly.

He said: “At the moment it’s important he comes good through these last five days with us, how many minutes he will get. Every day he is not reinjured, helps with his body. Craig [Bellamy] is experienced in this business.

“He knows Daniel was out six-and-a-half weeks, but each and every manager wants his team to be successful. Him being back fit for us is important but also for the Wales squad.

“I would prefer if he was not given 90 mins in every game [for Wales]. We’ll see the other outcomes after these two games, I won’t tell Craig what to do, he’s experienced enough.”

• READ MORE: Daniel Farke says ‘late decisions’ will need to be made on two Leeds United players ahead of Millwall

Dan James’ Leeds and Wales schedule this month

It’s not only up to Bellamy to manage James accordingly this month, but Farke too, as Leeds have a busy month either side of the break.

In Solomon and Ramazani (hopefully later this month), Farke has options to rotate things, and needs to make use of it.