Leeds captain Ethan Ampadu has been ruled out for the rest of the year with a knee ligament injury.
The Wales international was forced off in the 41st minute of Leeds’ 3-0 win over Coventry in the Championship on Saturday.
Ampadu, 24, was set to be named in Craig Bellamy’s Wales squad for their games against Iceland and Montenegro next week.
Leeds boss Daniel Farke told BBC Radio Leeds: “It’s a serious knee injury, he has damaged his lateral ligament – the doctors have recommended a conservative treatment so he doesn’t need surgery.
“It’s difficult to predict how long he will be out but it’s realistic to speak about 10 weeks until he can return to team training.
“It could be a few days more or less depending on the rehab. At the moment we expect him to be back in training at some point in December but he will need a bit of team training before he’s available.
“We expect him to be back [playing] at some point in January.”
💬 𝗗𝗙 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗻𝗲𝘄𝘀: “Ethan, sadly it’s a serious knee injury, he doesn’t need surgery, it’s realistic to speak about 10 weeks. Max is set for surgery and we’ll travel to Norwich without Dan and Manor, and Isaac is out, he reported some glute problems.” pic.twitter.com/STFXhaJq3I
— Leeds United (@LUFC) September 30, 2024
Midfielder Ampadu had played every minute of Leeds’ campaign up to that injury and started in both of Wales’ Nations League games against Turkey and Montenegro earlier this month.
The Whites are currently fifth in the Championshp, two points off top, after winning three of their last four games.
Farke will be without four other players as they head to Norwich on Tuesday, with Dan James, Manor Solomon, Isaac Schmidt and Max Wober also out.
