In order to make it 4-0, Joel Piroe, Georginio Rutter, and Crysencio Summerville also put their names on the score sheet.Cooper entered the game late as Farke’s team comfortably advanced to the Wembley final.
The defender, who came from Chesterfield to Leeds during Massimo Cellino’s first summer there in 2014, is almost ten years old now. He has since made 284 appearances for the Yorkshire team, tallying 11 goals for Leeds.
Cooper expressed his desire to sign a new deal and play into the summer at the Leeds awards ceremony. However, he essentially announced his resignation in a letter to the editor published in his captain’s column on Thursday night.
It had “been a pleasure” to captain Leeds throughout the years, he wrote in the Leeds United programme:
Liam Cooper pretty much confirms he will be leaving Leeds
Cooper, a 17-time Scotland international, has had ups and downs during his tenure at Leeds. He is known as “League One Cooper” with good reason. Cooper has sustained numerous injuries during his time with Leeds.
But under Marcelo Bielsa, he was the guy who led Leeds to promotion and stayed in charge of the team for three years in the Premier League. He played for Scotland after establishing himself as a star for Leeds.
Cooper wrote the following in the Thursday night show before to last night’s 4-0 victory: “As I have stated many times before, it is an enormous privilege to be captain of this incredible club in addition to playing for Leeds.
“One which I never take for granted. It has been a pleasure leading this group of players this season and naturally I want nothing more than for the campaign to finish in the way we all dream of,” Cooper said.
Who will replace Cooper as Leeds captain moving forward?
This season, Cooper has been demoted to a supporting role; in his stead, Ethan Ampadu and Pascal Struijk have taken up the armband. Prior to Ampadu, who joined the team only last summer, Struijk was the first player to wear it.
Daniel Farke has now make a choice because Ampadu, who is only 23 years old, has excelled for Leeds in his position as captain, playing far above his years with the maturity of someone like 32-year-old Cooper.
Ampadu or Struijk? Now that Struijk has been out for a few months and Ampadu has been the captain of the team while playing, it must move to the Wales player before the upcoming campaign.
