Burnley defender Connor Roberts is facing a fight to be fit for first Leeds United reunion at Elland Road.
The Whites are set to host Burnley in the first match after the international break with Roberts one of two former Leeds loanees potentially set to be in the squad, alongside Jaidon Anthony.
However, while Roberts was away on international duty with Ethan Ampadu, Joe Rodon, Karl Darlow and Charlie Crew with Wales over the last two weeks, he picked up an injury.
Roberts was brought off the pitch just a few minutes before half-time in Wales’ 2-1 win away at Montenegro on Monday, leaving just a few days for him to recover in time to be fit.
The 28-year-old appeared as though he was suffering with an arm injury, though the exact details of the issue are yet to be discovered.
Parker issues update on Roberts ahead of Leeds vs Burnley
Considering the number of changes in Burnley’s squad over the summer, Roberts has been one of the only settled parts of their team in the opening four matches.
His absence would be a big blow for Scott Parker, considering they sold their other main right-back Vitinho back to his native Brazil last month.
With Shurandy Sambo not yet having been registered, Roberts being out would leave CJ Egan-Riley as the most likely replacement, even though he is more of a centre-back.
Speaking to the Burnley Express in his pre-match press conference, Parker says he will give Roberts every chance of being fit for the match at Elland Road.
He said: “Connor has just reported in today (Thursday). We’ve assessed him and it doesn’t seem as bad as we initially thought. He had an awareness and came out of the game pretty quickly.
“We were just trying to work out whether it was a general over fatigue and tiredness, but again we will re-assess tomorrow and give ourselves every opportunity for him to try and make Saturday. We will see over the next 24 hours how he comes out of that.”
What is Burnley’s other team new ahead of Leeds clash
Roberts was not the only player Parker provided an update on, with Maxime Esteve, Manuel Benson and Josh Cullen also on the agenda.
He said: “Maxime [Esteve] is okay, but Benny [Manuel Benson] has got a bit of a big injury, so he won’t be around for a number of weeks, maybe months.
“That’s the big disappointment from the [Blackburn] game regarding Benny in that sense, having come on, but hopefully he can recover as quickly as possible but we won’t be seeing him for a little while.
“It’s his calf/his achilles. We’ve obviously scanned him and there’s obviously a problem there. He’s going to need time now to recover and get it right to re-boot him up and get him ready for when he’s fit.
“We need to work out if this weekend comes a bit too early for him [Josh Cullen]. But he’s trained with us for two or three days and we’ll make a call probably tomorrow on that.”
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