Leeds United manager Garry Monk admits that Gaetano Berardi has gone through the necessary process needed to fully recover from his injury, but has stressed the defender still needs to overcome the lack of football he has played this season.
The Swiss defender has been out of action since suffering an injury on the opening day of the season at Queens Park Rangers and is yet to return to the pitch for Leeds’ first team.
Berardi returned to first team training last month and also played for Leeds Under-23s in recent weeks to get some much needed football minutes under his belt ahead of a proposed return to the senior squad.
However, Monk is yet to name the defender in his matchday squads and admits that Berardi still needs to overcome the fact that he has played very little first team football this season.
He admits that Berardi has followed his recovery process diligently, but insisted that like all the others in his squad, the Swiss defender will have to fight to get back into the Leeds team.
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The Leeds manager said in a press conference: “He has missed a lot of football, pretty much missed the whole season so far, so that’s a big thing for him to overcome.
“He has ticked all the boxes, his last bit was to play 90 minutes on the pitch with the Under-23s; it’s not like a Championship game or a cup game, but he has ticked all those boxes.
“He is fighting like all the others to get games and I am sure he is eager to get involved; I can see a good professional, he wants to get into the squad like the others, but he has fight on his hands.”
