Obviously, news that a crucial first-team player is heading for surgery is far from ideal. 

With Robin Koch scheduled to have knee surgery on Thursday, Leeds United will be missing an ever-present in a defence not exactly known for their tendency to keep goals out as it is. 

Clearly, there's so much more to Marcelo Bielsa's side than that, as well as Koch's defending, but the fact is; a defence to have shipped the third-highest amount in the Premier League has lost it's crucial interceptor. 

Since arriving from Freiburg over the course of the summer, the German international leads the way in the Whites' side for interceptions made per game (2, via WhoScored) out of any Leeds player to have played over nine games. 

Luckily, however, The Athletic's news report into Koch's injury does hint at some reasonably good news. 

While there is no timeframe in regards to his recovery, they do claim that Leeds are still hopeful he will not be a long-term absentee as a result of his knee injury. 

The news will of course be easier to swallow now Diego Llorente is finally fit and playing but the Koch injury must be so frustrating. 

Leeds' two expensive defensive signings are yet to play together which is far from ideal when they're reported to have cost a combined £29.7m. 

With Koch doing so well to replace Ben White during his brief time with Leeds so far in terms of his interception rate as we've previously discussed, not having that kind of presence will be a blow ahead of the frantic festive schedule.

Hopefully for Leeds however, not a long-term one.