Leeds manager delivers new update on Sinisterra and Gnonto ahead of West Brom match

Leeds United manager Daniel Farke has confirmed Wilfried Gnonto and Luis Sinisterra will once again both be absent for the match against West Brom on Friday.

Farke was speaking in his pre-match press conference ahead of the clash at Elland Road, where the availability of both Gnonto and Sinisterra was a hot topic.

Gnonto has refused to play in each of Leeds‘ last two matches in all competitions, first making himself unavailable for the Carabao Cup tie with Shrewsbury Town after growing frustrated with the club’s refusal to sell him to Everton.

Despite then training in the two days between the match against Shrewsbury Town and trip to Birmingham City, he then also ruled himself out of the game against the latter.

As per Phil Hay, Gnonto has been training away from the rest of the first team squad this week and so his absence on Friday is no surprise.

Sinisterra, meanwhile, was also a surprise absentee for the defeat at St. Andrews, with Farke refusing to go into deal as to why he was unavailable.

Speaking in his press conference today, though, Farke has confirmed that his situation is different to Gnonto’s. u

He said: “There are many questions and it would take too long to speak at length. With Willy we’ve spoken at length and what I think is important to say is that Helder Costa, Willy Gnonto and Luis Sinisterra are training separate from the group. They have individual training in order to stay fit.

“They’ve been moved out of the dressing room for different reason’s we’ve spoken at length about the situation with Willy. With Helder Costa everything is more relaxed. It’s his and our wish that there will be a solution and it’s professional. With Luis Sinisterra it’s a different situation.

“There is no exit clause and we’ve made it clear that we won’t sell Willy. With Luis it’s different, he has an exit clause and there were some open question marks. Until everything is sorted from a legal point of view, he won’t train with the group as he can’t focus on training. It seems it’ll be sorted quickly. All these three players were training separately.”

These are now both situations that need resolving as swiftly as possible as their presence in and around the training ground, regardless of whether they are away from the rest of the squad, can’t be good.

Leeds clearly are also in need of cash from player sales that can be reinvested into the squad, with both Gnonto and Sinisterra assets that could pull in excess of £20 million each.