Leeds United: Patrick Bamford issues fitness update ahead of Southampton play-off final

Patrick Bamford has provided an update on his fitness ahead of Leeds United’s play-off final clash against Southampton.

The Whites discovered their opponents at Wembley Stadium later this month will be the Saints following their 3-1 win over West Bromwich Albion on Friday evening.

But Bamford missed the Yorkshire outfit’s two-legged 4-0 victory over Norwich City in their semi-final, with an injury issue keeping him on the sidelines.

A knee injury has kept him out of action since the team’s 4-3 win over Middlesbrough in April.

Bamford has been a key part of the club’s second half of the season, contributing eight goals and one assist from 17 league appearances in 2024 (all stats from Fbref).

Patrick Bamford makes fitness claim ahead of Southampton clash

Bamford has admitted that he is still uncertain whether he will be fit to play a role in the crucial play-off final against Southampton later this month.

The striker revealed that he will need to get involved with training this week in order to stand any chance of appearing at Wembley Stadium.

“The simple answer is no [on whether he knows where his injury is at],” said Bamford, via the My Mate’s A Footballer podcast.

“It is touch and go, these 10 days, realistically if I want to be involved in the final, I will have to train with the team at some point next week.

“Against Middlesbrough I don’t remember doing it.

“There was one shot where I was limping after which is where they think it happened.

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“Cry [Crysencio Summerville] had a shot and I slid in to try and tap it in at the back post, and I don’t know what happened and somehow I managed to bang my knee, or twist it or something.

“Two minutes later when I start to run around on the pitch it got more and more sore.

“The manager took me off five minutes later so I thought ‘good, I will be alright, I’ve just banged it’.

“Then the next day, I was in agony and I was like, what’s going on?

“I got on the bench and iced it and thought it would settle down the next day, but it got worse.

“It’s hard to explain what it is, but it’s something to do with the patella tendon and where the bone attaches.

“It’s touch and go for the final.

“Realistically because it’s been three weeks since I last played, I need to train, with the final on Sunday, by Wednesday to get a few days training because otherwise it’s pointless me being there as I won’t be sharp anyway.”

Patrick Bamford’s importance to Leeds United

Bamford has been a key figure for Leeds over the years, but injury issues have hampered his availability in the last couple of seasons.

The 30-year-old was crucial to their promotion charge under Marcelo Bielsa in 2020, and scored 23 goals during the club’s three years back in the top flight.

Daniel Farke will be hoping to have as many players available as possible for their clash against the Saints on 26 May.

The winner will earn the third and final promotion place, joining Leicester City and Ipswich Town in going up to the Premier League.

Bamford in a race against time to feature against Southampton

Farke will want to have Bamford available as his experience could be critical to have on such a big occasion.

The striker has also been in good form in the second half of the season, and has provided strong competition for Joel Piroe and Georginio Rutter.

But time is running out for Bamford to prove his fitness, and he makes a smart point that he’ll need to be available for training to show his readiness, so he has less time than we think.

It would be a huge risk to throw him into the game without having taken any part in training in the build-up to the final.