The centre-back has been a key figure in the heart of defence and has worn the captain's armband in recent weeks. Manager Daniel Farke says it is unclear how long he will be out, but now seemed like the best time to deal with a long-standing problem.

"In recent weeks and months he's had growing problems with his hernia and especially after the last game it was pretty painful so we decided this week to send him to London for assessment and a little surgery, nothing too bad," he said. "We hope to have him back pretty soon after the international break.

"He has problems on both hernias so it's a bit too early to speak about timeframes. We have to wait for further assessment.

"He's had problems for six months, if I'm honest, even during pre-season but he's been able to deliver really good performances.

"We had to make a call and after the last game it was too painful and knowing so many games were coming up and the festive period will be pretty busy, I think it's a smart solution to have it right now and use the international break a little bit."

It was part of a busy injury bulletin, with a number of players set to sit out the game against the Pilgrims, and question marks over a few more.

"On Joe Gelhardt overall I would say it's some good news, he didn't need any surgery on his hand fracture but he will definitely miss this game," said Farke. "I hope he will be able to join us back in team training during the international break and out the other side to be re-involved.

"It's the same with Jamie Shackleton, it was a strain in his glutes. He will definitely also miss the game but be back in team training pretty soon.

"Djed Spence is in the final stages of his rehab and we hope he will also be back in team training on the other side of the international window. Pretty soon he will hopefully be available for the games.

"There are two little question marks. Patrick Bamford has missed the first two training sessions of the week due to illness so we'll see how his body reacts to Thursday's light session. I hope he's available.

"Charlie Cresswell has missed the beginning of the week due to private reasons so I'm hopeful he'll be available too, but we'll have to see with Patrick and Charlie."

Farke said that Stuart Dallas will not train with Northern Ireland over the international break as their manager Michael O'Neill had suggested because he is not yet ready to do so for Leeds, but he did add that if the utility player wanted to join up with his international team-mates on his days off over the next fortnight, he would have no issue with that.

Pascal Struijk's double hernia operation rules Leeds United defender out of Plymouth Argyle game