OPINION
While many will see Leeds United’s upcoming six fixtures as meaningless dead rubbers before the summer comes round, these matches in fact hand manager Paul Heckingbottom a unique opportunity to blood some of the club’s youth talents.
Goalkeeper Bailey Peacock-Farrell was the first to benefit, with the 21-year-old stopper deputising between the sticks for the last five games, and suitably impressing in the process.
Young left-back Tom Pearce was next, appearing for 77 minutes in their 2-1 loss to Sheffield Wednesday in March, and sitting on the bench in a further five recent matches.
With Leeds’ season basically over after a play-off place became distant memory, there are now emerging more names that could be in contention to make their first-team debuts before the campaign is out.
In the press conference before the Whites’ clash with Sunderland in the Championship this weekend, Heckingbottom revealed that 16-year-old striker Ryan Edmondson had been training with the first-team.
As quoted by Leeds Live (Thursday, 13:41), he said: “He’s done really well, scored loads. Behaves like a man, which you don’t often get in young players. Everyone speaks well of him. We need to give him all the right stimulus in terms of challenges. It’s not unrealistic to see him playing for the first-team this season.”
This is a glowing review from a coach who does not normally give much away, and his admission that Edmondson may make his first-team bow before the end of the season is massive.
However, Heckingbottom must not let this be only words, but must follow up and hand Edmondson his debut in one of their upcoming dead rubbers.
Granted, the young striker is just 16 years old, but the faster he is introduced to senior football the better.
Edmondson has obviously been in fantastic form for the club’s youth sides since joining from York City earlier this season, and there is no better time to promote him to the first-team.
A hat-trick at Thorp Arch against Burnley’s Under-18s recently show that Edmondson is ready for a step up, and Heckingbottom must hand him that chance after his latest admission.
This is especially true when you consider the poor form of the club’s senior strikers recently, with 24-year-old Caleb Ekuban particularly bad.
Edmondson could not do much worse than Ekuban at the moment, and Leeds have nothing to lose by giving him a massive chance in the first-team.