The arrival of Max Wober will ease the workload on captain Liam Cooper at Leeds United.
That’s according to head coach Jesse Marsch, who does however, say that Cooper does still have a significant part to play at Elland Road going forward.
Wober has impressed since his arrival at Leeds earlier in this window, and formed a solid central defensive partnership with Robin Koch in Sunday’s goalless draw with Brentford.
Indeed, the 24-year-old has so far been used at centre back since his arrival, despite apparent expectations it was the left-back role he had been brought in to fill.
That of course, means that if he continues in that role, he will be competing with Cooper, who is currently out through injury, for a place in the starting XI.
Now though, it seems Marsch believes the presence of Wober in the squad, is something that is likely to aid his fellow defender, in terms of the demands placed on him.
Speaking about what the addition of Wober means for Cooper’s own prospects in the team, the Leeds boss told the Yorkshire Evening Post: “Even when I spoke to Liam about Max coming, it was another player similar to Pascal [Struijk] that can play left-back, centre-back.
“I said that one of the strategies is that Liam, as we see right now, it’s been hard for him to train all week, and then be ready for a game and train all week and be ready for a game, and we need to get him into more of a rhythm where he’s training and at a top level of fitness and not just preparing him for matches.
“Hopefully, if we can provide him with a little bit more pause,we can then create more longevity and top fitness and health for him along the way. But Liam will continue to be a very important player for us, no doubt.”
The addition of Wober should certainly ease the workload on Cooper.
Given how solid he has been since he arrived at Leeds, you do feel as though it would be hard to justify dropping the Austrian right now.
An effective combination struck up with Koch against Brentford, does seem to indicate they might be the pairing that have the best chance of cutting out the errors that have proved so costly for Leeds recently.
That of course, will make it hard for Cooper to regain his place in the starting XI when fit, but he will still have to be ready when called upon, given how quickly things can change in football.