How Daniel Farke responded when asked about sending 23-year-old Leeds United on mid-season international duty

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Leeds United manager Daniel Farke was the man who gave the green light for Ian Poveda to go on international duty with Colombia.

Poveda is set to miss Leeds’ next three matches having been called up to represent Colombia for the first time for two friendlies against Venezuela and Mexico.

Leeds will therefore be without Poveda for games against Blackburn Rovers (a), Sunderland (a) and Coventry City (h), in what is an unusual time for a player to be representing their country.

However, according to Leeds Live, it was actually Farke who was happy to give Poveda the go ahead to fly out to the United States for the two friendlies, as manager Nestor Lorenzo uses it as an opportunity to take a look at some fringe players.

Poveda is one of just three members of Colombia’s squad for the two matches to be playing in Europe, with the rest in leagues, such as the MLS, where the season is over.

Farke happy for Poveda to get international opportunity

Poveda has played just 31 minutes of league football since Leeds’ second game of the season at Birmingham City, which was his only start under Farke.

Despite a promising pre-season, Poveda finds himself behind Crysencio Summerville, Dan James, Willy Gnonto and Jaidon Anthony for one of those two wide positions.

Clearly Farke believes he has more than enough in his squad to get by without him over the next two matches, ahead of welcoming him back for the busy Christmas period.

That said, it is less than two weeks ago that Farke brought Poveda off the bench to face Rotherham United before Anthony, due to his impressive performances in training.

Either way, Farke has clearly seen this as a decent chance for Poveda to stake a more regular claim for a place in the Colombia squad, and allowed him to take it.