Marcelo Bielsa says Eddie Nketiah will decide if he recovers from injury with Leeds United or Arsenal

Marcelo Bielsa says it will be up to Eddie Nketiah whether he stays with Leeds United as he recovers from injury, or returns to parent club Arsenal.

The England Under-21 striker is on loan from the Premier League club, meaning how his abdominal injury is dealt with is to an extent out of Leeds and Bielsa's hands.

Nketiah suffered the injury in training last week, denying him the opportunity to make what Bielsa has since admitted would have been his full league debut for the club after impressing from the bench lately.

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If the 20-year-old were to stay on West Yorkshire, it would be an endorsement not only for the club's medical department, but for the spirit within the promotion-chasing camp.

Marcelo Bielsa is assessing Eddie Nketiah's abdomen injury on a weekly basisMarcelo Bielsa is assessing Eddie Nketiah's abdomen injury on a weekly basis
Marcelo Bielsa is assessing Eddie Nketiah's abdomen injury on a weekly basis

It is not just on the field where Nketiah has been impressing Bielsa.

“Whether he feels comfortable with us is going to be the key for him to stay or not,” said Bielsa, when asked what the plans were.

“It is for him to say, not for me. We have the same stance as when he arrived at Leeds.

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“After living and sharing with him, our opinion about him is better than the initial position we had before he arrived here and that was very good.”

It is a pity for Nketiah that his injury came when it did because in his previous outing, at Sheffield Wednesday, his build-up play went a long way to convincing Bielsa that he was ready to start a Championship match. Until then, the Argentinian had been unsure if Nketiah to contribute as much to the overall game as Patrick Bamford, who has not scored in ten games, dating back to August.

Nketiah is Leeds's top-scorer this season with five, one more than former Middlesbrough player Bamford.

Bielsa is refusing to put a timescale on Nketiah's recovery, saying Leeds will monitor him from week to week.

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“Now is one week and they (the medical experts) told us (to wait) one more week to see how he progresses. In the next seven days I will inform you if he is able (to return to the field) or must continue to recover."

Midfielder Jamie Shackleton has picked up a fresh setback just as he was expected to return from injury, and will miss Saturday's visit of Blackburn Rovers with a muscular problem, and Ezgjan Alioski and Adam Forshaw continue to be troubled by side and hip issues respectively, but full-back Barry Douglas is fit again after a knee injury.