Leeds United head coach Neil Redfearn has addressed the issue of six overseas players who withdrew from his squad at the last minute on Friday, ahead of today's game against Charlton, saying he hopes that there is nothing untoward behind it.

Marco Silvestri, Dario Del Fabro, Giuseppe Bellusci, Souleymane Doukara, Edgar Cani and Mirco Antenucci, five of the six having been signed by banned club president Massimo Cellino, declared themselves injured on Friday.




They did not travel to London and were not involved today as Leeds went down to a 2-1 defeat away at Charlton.

 


It has been suggested off the pitch issues caused the six players to withdraw their services, something Redfearn says he hopes is not the case. Indeed, the head coach says he must take the players at their word that they are injured.

Redfearn told LUTV the situation around the withdrawals, saying: "Marco Silvestri got a whack against Norwich, so he was resting, but I was told by the physio that he would be OK for Saturday. He came in Friday and declared himself not fit.

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"And there were a couple of boys that came in training on Friday, who trained on Thursday, and declared themselves not fit: Mirco Antenucci and Edgar Cani.

"During training there were three others who pulled up. I think Doukara's was a groin, Bellusci's a thigh/hamstring and Del Fabro's was his knee.

"When you're so close to travelling down you've got to pick a squad accordingly and get on the bus and go. So it was all done hastily and we had to change things round a little bit.

"They've [the medical team] assessed them and Harvey [Sharman the physio] said he thinks they are injured, so I've got to go along with it. It's disappointing because it's a lot of people at one go to get injured."

Told that a number of the club's fans feel the six players' injuries are more than a coincidence, given the off the pitch issues at Leeds, Redfearn says he would like to think that is not the case.

"You'd like to think it isn't, but you don't know. If they say they're injured, they're injured. You've got to take people on their word. They're professional people."

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