It's the second time in eight Leeds United games he has been injured
Isaac Johnson Leeds United reporter
06:00, 21 Oct 2025
Isaac Johnson
Isaac is the Leeds United reporter for LeedsLive. An NCTJ-qualified journalist, Isaac has interviewed many football icons during his career, including World Cup winners and Premier League champions. He has also sat down with a number of Olympic greats, such as Adam Peaty MBE and Dame Laura Kenny.
Noah Okafor has not played a full 90 minutes for more than 18 months
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Noah Okafor has not played a full 90 minutes for more than 18 months(Image: Mike Morese/MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
In their post-summer debrief, the Leeds United recruitment team felt assured that their gamble on signings with an injury history would pay off in the long run.
The 49ers have plugged investment into off-field facilities such as a revamped wet room and a new gym among several upgrades at Thorp Arch. Senior staff also place faith in their medical team and sport scientists, who generally have a good record of getting players back fit ahead of schedule.
The recruitment heads knew the risk they were taking with Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Lukas Nmecha. Both were free agents and both have got on the scoresheet in games Leeds have ended up winning.
Similar fitness questions hang over Noah Okafor. He remains the club’s top scorer with two goals, having struck away at Wolves and tapped home versus Tottenham Hotspur at Elland Road. Yet he, potentially, might not play on home soil again for another month.
The Swiss attacker was sidelined for the 2-0 defeat to Burnley with a groin issue and could well miss Friday's match with West Ham United if he needs more rehabilitation. It's not the first time Okafor has sustained a groin issue.
The 25-year-old did not come off the bench in the goalless draw with Newcastle United having picked up complaints following the preceding League Cup defeat to Sheffield Wednesday. Given he did not sign for United until after the opening day, Okafor has played in five of United’s eight league games.
To pick up two injuries inside the first eight games of the season shows the risk the recruitment team took on him. Okafor picked up three separate setbacks last season and at least two the season before that.
His last completed 90 minutes is as far back as March 2024, more than 18 months ago. A winger, of course, is always a prime candidate to be taken off in a game but that is still a significant gap.
Having not started a game since November last year, Okafor is now a key player at a club for the first time since his leaving RB Salzburg for AC Milan in 2023. He barely managed to play 600 minutes throughout the whole of last season yet has already chalked up 400 minutes for Leeds so far.
So maybe these current injury blips were going to be inevitable. Should Leeds have managed his minutes better? That’s a hard case to make in reality.
Okafor was signed for £18million, the most expensive arrival of the window. It’s easy to imagine the outcry if he had not started as many games. And it's not like he has played an entire game again yet either.
On his first three Premier League starts, he never lasted beyond 70 minutes, often seen out on his feet. The only times he has ventured past the 78-minute mark, against Sheffield Wednesday and Tottenham, he sustained a groin issue.
It doesn’t seem that Okafor’s issue came as a result of his 79 minutes against Spurs. Farke confirmed after full-time there were no injury concerns post-game.
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Noah Okafor of Leeds United celebrates scoring vs Tottenham(Image: Getty Images)
Many fans had hoped his rift with Switzerland head coach Murat Yakin amid continual call-up snubs would negate Okafor’s chance of a setback.
The fact it has not is a source of frustration. Okafor was seen on a running track in Dubai in the first week of the break, as per his Instagram activity, so he was seemingly not injured at that point.
The responsibility over fitness has to be shared. Okafor must look after himself the best way he can and sometimes that means not over-doing it.
He will want to play every game and improve so he should not be blamed for wanting to do extra work, nor for Farke playing him so often.
The manager does not, and will not, want to leave Okafor out unless due to injury. But even he admitted post-Spurs that his attacker is not yet up to Premier League match fitness, hence the need to take him off despite the shortage of fit wingers.
It’s a delicate balance but it's one Leeds must get right if they are to get the best out of Okafor and work him up to the required standard. There’s a sense we have not seen the ceiling of Okafor yet, and he has shown positive signs.
Whatever the balance is right now, though, it’s not working. Leeds and Okafor are working things out in real time so criticism ought not to lay at either party’s door - but both need to take lessons from what has happened so far and adapt.
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