In Friday afternoon’s Under 23 game between Leeds United and Birmingham City, whilst there was plenty of delight at seeing Izzy Brown return to the pitch for the first time in ten months following his spell on the sidelines with injury, we also lost on-loan goalkeeper Jamal Blackman to what looked like a serious problem of his own.
There was little news initially about what had happened to the 25-year-old following his collision with Beryly Lubala in the 84th minute but with him being stretchered off, there was plenty of concern.
Later on Friday evening, the club did confirm that he had suffered a fractured tibia and he now returns to Chelsea for rehabilitation.
I would like to thank the medical staff at both Thorp Arch and Leeds General Infirmary for the excellent way they dealt with the situation and also thank all the fans for their support and messages ????????❤️ pic.twitter.com/4GsA0hcRuq
— Jamal Blackman (@Big_Blacks) November 16, 2018
It doesn’t seem anyone has yet put a strict timeframe on his return but it’s obviously not going to be that quick, so we’ll have to see if manager Marcelo Bielsa is content with more youthful backup for an already young Bailey Peacock-Farrell, or whether we use a series of emergency loans to provide cover until the January window.