Daniel Farke could soon be completely spoilt for choice when it comes to picking his Leeds United midfield.
Just a couple of months ago, Leeds were in the midst of a crisis in the middle of the park after losing both Ethan Ampadu and Ilia Gruev to serious injuries in the space of a few days.
Ampadu and Gruev started all of Leeds’ opening seven league matches together but since coming into the team, Ao Tanaka and Joe Rothwell have been ‘elite‘ thanks to their brilliant performances.
Leeds also brought in Josuha Guilavogui on a free transfer as cover and his impact off the pitch has been particularly impressive. Guilavogui delivered a rousing dressing room speech ahead of the recent win at Swansea City.
Farke is soon going to have some very difficult decisions to make with Ampadu having returned to the squad against Derby, and now Gruev progressing well in his rehab.
Farke delivers injury update on Ilia Gruev ahead of Leeds vs Boro
Reports from Bulgaria earlier this week indicated that Gruev had been back out on the grass running again following knee surgery back in October.
Farke was asked directly about those reports in his pre-Middlesbrough press conference on Monday and delivered a fairly positive update on Gruev’s recovery.
The Leeds boss did confirm Gruev is now at the stage of his rehab where he can run again, though a return to training won’t be happening in the ‘next couple of weeks’.
However, that would indicate that Gruev could be back is full team training following the turn of the New Year, giving Farke five senior central midfield options.
He said: “He’s back on the grass with trainers on and running on the treadmill. He’s doing some running stuff but it will last a while until he’s really back in team training.
“Obviously sometimes he puts his boots on to get used to his boots again, sometimes runs in them but he is far away from being involved in team training from tackles or whatever so he won’t return back to team training over the next couple of weeks. It will last a while.”
Leeds should loan out Charlie Crew in January
Teenager Charlie Crew has been named on the bench several times this season since the the injuries to both Ampadu and Gruev.
However, in that time, Crew was only handed just one appearance as a substitute against Plymouth Argyle, and his place in the matchday squad against Derby was gone due to Ampadu’s return.
His standing in the pecking order is only going to decrease even further when Gruev comes back, which seemingly isn’t miles away.
With that in mind, Leeds should really be considering a January loan move to either a lower Championship club, or top League One side for Crew.
Farke hailed Crew as someone with ‘high potential‘ earlier this year but he is never going to have the chance to realise that being stuck in the U21s, and as Leeds’ sixth choice midfielder.
In Joe Gelhardt, Leeds know all too well what keeping a young player around as depth can do for their development and they need to avoid that same mistake with Crew.
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