The Leeds United legend’s 2025/26 campaign looks to be over.
Leeds United promotion hero Liam Cooper is unlikely to play again this season after suffering a serious injury while playing for Sheffield Wednesday over the weekend.
Wednesday were already a sinking ship when Cooper joined, following a raft of points deductions and financial issues, with the Owls officially relegated in the worst way possible on Sunday. Defeat at rivals Sheffield United confirmed their drop into League One.
Cooper started that Steel City derby at Bramall Lane and was up against two former Elland Road teammates in Patrick Bamford and Kalvin Phillips. But the centre-back was forced off with 10 minutes to go having picked up a groin injury.
According to The Star, that injury is serious and looks set to rule Cooper out for the remaining 13 games of the Championship campaign. And with his contract at Hillsborough expiring this summer, Sunday’s relegation-confirming defeat could prove his final game for the South Yorkshire outfit.
It remains to be seen what the future might hold for Cooper, who turns 35 in August. The Scotland international has suffered with a few injury issues at Wednesday and CSKA Sofia beforehand, eventually cutting his contract with the Bulgarian outfit short.
Cooper has played 41 games across all competitions in the two years since leaving Leeds, however, and might feel he can play into his late 30s. The experienced defender had proven a positive addition to a young Wednesday squad and had plenty of Championship suitors when leaving Leeds in the summer of 2024.
How did other ex-Leeds United players get on?
His groin injury was blow number two for a former Leeds favourite at Bramall Lane, with Kalvin Phillips also forced off - albeit not due to injury. The midfielder, signed on loan from Manchester City in January, was shown a straight red card for a high challenge on Wednesday’s Svante Ingelsson.
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"Once you slow it down it looks pretty bad," Blades boss Chris Wilder admitted of the tackle to BBC Radio Sheffield. "Sometimes when you've not played a lot of football recently you can get it wrong. We suffer but he suffers more because he's been outstanding, so for him to miss three games is disappointing.
"He's such a humble boy. My first meeting with him I thanked him for coming here and playing a part, and he thanked me and he was the other way. This is the first time that we've seen him a bit down but he'll get over it and we'll put work in him and he'll be okay."
Third Leeds promotion hero Bamford did enjoy the Steel City derby though, scoring inside two minutes to help Sheffield United claim all three points. That was the striker’s eighth Championship goal of the season in just 16 games, enough to set him out in front as the Blades’ top-scorer.
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