Manager Daniel Farke rates Ampadu’s chances of playing again this season as 50-50, with the hope the rehabilitation he is doing will pay off. The German does not expect to see his skipper back in training before next month’s international break and has indicated he may not be be back before April.

Those wins have left Leeds five points clear at the top of the division but Ampadu has warned that a test “no different” to Sheffield United and Sunderland now presents itself with Saturday’s lunchtime kick-off against fifth-placed West Brom.

As Smith alluded to, Leeds have enough depth to cope without Ampadu in midfield, where he arguably performs at the peak of his powers, but the captain also filled in seamlessly alongside his compatriot Rodon during Struijk's four-game absence at the turn of the year.