Liam Cooper has taken to Twitter to send a touching message to Leeds United teammate Stuart Dallas after the midfielder returned to full training for the first time since his broken leg at Manchester City.
Dallas, 32, has been a warrior for Leeds. Prior to his injury, he had clocked up 267 games for the club, spending eight years on the books at Elland Road. He won the 2020-21 Player of the Season at Leeds.
But in April 2022, with Dallas trying to help this Leeds side avoid relegation – which they eventually did – he broke his leg against Manchester City. He has failed to play any football since. Almost, 18 months.
However, and a bit out of the blue, Dallas returned to Leeds training on Thursday for the first time since his injury. Pictures emerged online of the Northern Irishman alongside the Leeds team, wearing blue.
A beautiful sight. A fully fit, fully firing Stuart Dallas in the Championship is a cheat code. He is a player that Daniel Farke will love – already describing him as “perfect”. Cooper took to Twitter to respond.
Cooper sends touching message to Leeds teammate Dallas
It is a wonderful start. There is still going to be a long road back – full training for the first time in 18 months will have hit him like a train. He needs time – and it is unlikely he consistently trains right away.
It might be that he trains two or three times in a week. The next step for Dallas will be seeing if he can get back to training every day, and then, perhaps a few minutes with the 21’s. But it is a really good sign.
If Leeds can have Dallas available before Christmas, it is a huge boost to our promotion hopes. There is also a bit of a race against time for Dallas in a way, as he sees his deal expire at the end of the season.
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