Three players were spotted in Leeds’ pre-season video of the day despite international commitments last month

Despite two major international tours taking place, the majority of Leeds’ first team squad returned today. Joe Rodon was a major exception after only sealing his return to the club on Tuesday.

Brenden Aaronson, Rasmus Kristensen and Max Wober are likely to return on similar dates, having all been ruled out of the Copa America and Euros respectively in recent days.

Unlike Aaronson, Kristensen and Wober still need clarification on their futures. However, it would appear that the writing is on the wall for Diego Llorente, who was absent on the first day.

Ethan Ampadu, Dan James and Junior Firpo on the first day of pre-season

It was nice to see all the big names at Thorp Arch on the first day of the pre-season YouTube video, with Crysencio Summerville, Willy Gnonto and Georginio Rutter all clearly very happy to be back.

That’s despite all the ongoing speculation surrounding their futures, with the latter attracting a shock £30m bid from Brighton in recent days.

Charlie Crew will be hoping to emulate Archie Gray in a breakthrough campaign and was with the first-team squad yesterday, while Sam Greenwood returned from his loan spell at Middlesbrough.

Ethan Ampadu, Dan James and Junior Firpo were probably the most surprising faces we saw on day one, all having been away on international duty last month.

Crew was, of course, out alongside Ampadu and James with Wales, but as a young player looking to build up, it was no surprise to see him back so soon.

However, the three have had far less time off than the non-internationals in Leeds’ squad, with Firpo only finishing on 12 June and the Welsh a little earlier on 9 June. Anyway, it’s good to see everyone again.

Firpo is preparing to represent the Dominican Republic at the Olympics

Although Firpo returned for the first day of pre-season, it won’t be long before he is off again to represent his country.

He was selected in the Dominican Republic’s squad for the upcoming Olympic games starting on July 24, despite Leeds being under no obligation to do so.

This could be a pretty telling sign that Leeds expect to let Firpo go, given that Mateo Joseph has been prevented from being named in the Spain squad.

Reports have suggested that Leeds will sell Firpo this summer and that decision, coupled with the fact that he only has 12 months left on his deal, means that all signs point to that.

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