Marcelo Bielsa reveals Leeds duo Kalvin Phillips and Liam Cooper are expected to remain sidelined until March in further blow to struggling Whites

Leeds duo Liam Cooper and Kalvin Phillips are not expected to return from their respective hamstring injuries until March, Marcelo Bielsa has revealed.

The pair were not expected to feature until the New Year, but this latest update will come as a big blow for Bielsa, who has been without both players since the Whites' 2-2 draw with Brentford at the start of December.

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Speaking ahead of their clash with Burnley, the Argentine was asked if the recent fitness issues in the squad, which had seen the club's last two matches postponed, would force Leeds to be active in the January transfer window.

The 66-year-old said: "We have been recovering players, even if Phillips and Cooper will return in March.

"And even if (Jamie) Shackleton and (Charlie) Cresswell come back towards the end of January or early February, the amount of players we have is increasing.

"We will see whether during January an alternative comes up which we may take advantage of."

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When later quizzed on whether Cooper and Phillips returning in March was a worst-case scenario, Bielsa replied: "No, that is what we expect."

Injuries and Covid-19 cases saw Leeds' scheduled fixtures with Liverpool and Aston Villa postponed, but Bielsa was able to provide better news on some of the other absentees.

Junior Firpo is available after suspension, while Diego Llorente, Robin Koch and Dan James are also retuning.

"For the following game, we recover Junior, James, Diego Llorente, Koch had already returned and (Jack) Harrison also, who basically in the last game didn't play because he picked up an injury as soon as the game started but he has also recovered," Bielsa said.

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Patrick Bamford was another to suffer an issue during that costly 2-2 draw with Brentford but he is fit again.

Boss Bielsa was, however, cautious about using last season's top goalscorer this weekend, given his previous return was short-lived.

He added: "This is the fourth week since Patrick's injury.

"Patrick is healthy but he hasn't played for four weeks now and it puts in doubt the convenience of him playing without having done any football training sessions."

With Leeds' injury and COVID-19 problems clearing up, Bielsa has no doubts about the clash with Burnley going ahead.

Prior to their enforced two-week break, the Yorkshire club had lost heavily to Manchester City and Arsenal with depleted squads, but their Argentinian coach is refusing to view the last couple of weeks as a positive for his players, especially those who contracted coronavirus.

"The illness of a group of players can never be considered positive even if after it generates alternative consequences that can be valued, because what provokes it is sufficiently serious to not value it," Bielsa said.

"Up until now we think the game will go ahead because the reason for the two postponements, we think we are on the way to coming back from those reasons why they were postponed."

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