Jesse Marsch says Patrick Bamford's injury may have been well timed for Leeds United striker

Bamford ruptured his plantar fascia at Wolverhampton Wanderers a fortnight ago but after 12 months of pain from it, it may not have been such a bad thing.

"Personally I was really disappointed this happened to Patrick, that this is the way it ended up," said Marsch.

"We felt like we were trying to create a progression that protected him but this injury is a tricky one, it's not not so straight-forward and often how to manage the pain and how to get through every moment so you're progressing but not over-stressing, it's not so easy to get the balance right and unfortunately he ruptured a small part of it.

"The experts said it was the best thing that could have happened to him long-term, which is a funny thing to say, but it relieved a lot of the pressure, the stress and the pain so he's already feeling better. We're hopeful the six-week prognosis is accurate, then we have to put him on a new progression."

The rest of Marsch's injury and illness bulletin was positive, with the hope that a wave of Covid-19 which swept through Thorp Arch in the international break has blown itself out.

"Raphinha had Covid (missing the game at Wolves and Brazil's March games) and over the break we've had some Covid here as well, a lot with the staff, so the timing for us was actually pretty good but coming back now we think everybody's free from that, knock on wood," he said.

"It's the last matchday we'll be doing so much testing here in England.

"Leo (Fuhr Hjelde) was back in training a little bit this week, he won't be available for the weekend but he's back in training.

"Junior (Firpo) is getting closer and closer and ahead of schedule. Jamie Shackleton had a lttile bit of a calf injury but he's back on the pitch, not with the team yet. Hopefully in a couple of weeks he'll be available

"Tyler Roberts is looking good and feeling good, even though he won't be back this season we feel like the surgery was a success."