Despite being Leeds United’s captain and leader in the dressing room, Liam Cooper did not expect an immediate recall from Marcelo Bielsa last weekend.
Cooper spoke to BBC Radio Leeds earlier this week and admitted he had missed the previous two matches because he had contracted Covid.
In his absence, Pascal Struijk and Diego Llorente played at the heart of a defence which only conceded one goal, but delivered four points.
Despite that success and the defenders’ solidity at the back, head coach Marcelo Bielsa immediately restored Cooper after what he described as an impressive week of training.
“I trained hard all week and I was available for selection, but with the team doing so well I’d never expect to walk straight back in the team,” said Cooper.
“Pascal and Diego have been different class and all I could do was try and push them and work hard all week.
“I did that and the manager’s put me in.”
With Cooper now fully fit once more, Bielsa finally has his full complement of four recognised centre-backs to choose from and competition is fierce.
Llorente is back in the Spain fold and demonstrating fine form with his club while Cooper and Struijk have not put a foot wrong across their runs in the team since the turn of the year.
Robin Koch, who last started in December, is finally making his tentative steps forwards from the bench while hoping his form before injury will not be forgotten.
It’s a quality problem any head coach would want to have and Cooper considers it healthy for the club.
“Diego’s come in and done unbelievable,” he said. “He’s very quick, he’s very decent on the ball and we all try and improve our ball game.
“He’s a Spanish international. They don’t just get given out, Spanish caps. He’s a really good player and I’m enjoying playing alongside him.
“He’s played with Pascal as well. Pascal’s been unbelievable this season and now we’ve got four players going for the two positions.
“It’s only healthy. You know if you have a couple of bad games you’re out of the team and the next man’s waiting to take your spot.
“It’s only healthy and that’s the level we’ve got to get to.”
