Patrick Bamford misses Leeds United training ahead of Aston Villa clash

Patrick Bamford has not trained with Leeds United this afternoon as the Whites held an open training session at Suncorp Stadium before Sunday’s game with Aston Villa. Around 1,000 Leeds fans were in attendance at the Brisbane ground to watch Jesse Marsch put his side through their paces, but a number of their favourite players were missing.

Bamford played 30 minutes on Thursday night against Brisbane Roar and the plan is for him to play extended minutes against Villa this weekend. However, in order to make sure he is ready, he sat out today’s session.

The striker missed a huge chunk of last season through injury and his activity is being managed during the club’s tour Down Under. Liam Cooper also sat out the session.

Cooper missed Thursday’s clash in Gold Coast due to a minor Achilles issue and the club will continue to monitor the problem throughout the tour. As such, he isn’t expected to feature against Steven Gerrard’s side.

Joe Gelhardt sat out of the session due to a small amount of soreness, while young defender Leo Hjelde, who pulled out of Tuesday’s training session has a problem with his calf, hasn’t trained either. The Whites will spend three days in Brisbane before flying to Western Australia to face Crystal Palace in Perth next week.