Earlier we carried a story about the number of players unavailable to new Leeds manager Javi Gracia for Saints trip on Saturday, but now bizarrely it seems that the manager is going to be unavailable for the players.

Javi Gracia apparently clinched the job with Leeds with an in-depth analysis of Saints win at Chelsea on Saturday and how he intended to combat the Saints threat in the big clash at Elland Road on Saturday.

Now it seems that he has been unable to take training with his new squad so far this week as Leeds wait for a work permit to come through, when he went to Watford 5 years ago he didn’t need a work permit as we were still in the EU and he was entitled to fire movement as a Spaniard.

But now that has all changed and employing players and managers from the EU is not the simple task it once was.

According to media reports in the North, Gracia is not only in danger of not being able to work with the squad ahead of the game but if the work permit does arrive then he will be unable to be in the dugout on Saturday.

The cynic in me would say that given the strict security surrounding football club training grounds these days and that he would be able to go into the training ground as a visitor, then I would be surprised if he had not had some input to the training, after all how could anyone prove otherswise.

But if he has no work permit then he can hardly make a public appearance in the dressing room or the dug out.

How much influence he can or cannot wield will become apparent in the next few weeks, but in the meantime this is hardly ideal preparation for Leeds.

Leeds

HythePeer added 10:34 - Feb 23 https://talksport.com/football/1340391/
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