Leeds boss Jesse Marsch explained holding back Joe Gelhardt for Sunday's 0-0 draw with Aston Villa.
Gelhardt may have to make do with an appearance in Michael Skubala's youth side this week as the U21s head to Tranmere Rovers in the Papa John's Trophy.
“No, no, he's perfectly healthy," Marsch said when asked whether Gelhardt had undergone a late fitness test. “We decided not to have him in the squad and so we wanted to get him a little fitness before, knowing that he wasn't in the squad.
“It wasn't a fitness test. It was giving him a little bit of running just to just to boost his fitness levels."
Marsch added: “I can tell you this, it's not based on performance because I think he's playing well. But we think that we have a lot of guys performing well right now.
“So I guess, in that sense that maybe you could say it's a pecking order but I don't look at it that way. I look at it as I really like Joffy, his mentality is great.
“Maybe we'll use him or a few guys on Tuesday in the Papa John's tournament to try to make sure that we're keeping rhythm and fitness and everything. I think you can see that a lot of our players need some match time.
“Please don't take it as a negative on Joffy, I believe in him and I really like him and we're going to keep pushing him."