Midfielder Mateusz Bogusz was handed his first-team debut last night as Leeds were dumped out of the EFL Cup by Stoke in a penalty shootout.
The 18-year-old has been impressing for the Under-23s since arriving from Polish side Ruch Chorzow in January.
He’s made the bench for four of Leeds’ Championship games this season without getting on the pitch, but he finally got to show the fans what he was made of at Elland Road on Tuesday night.
Fans were torn. There were plenty of supporters who thought he looked good enough to mix it in the first team, while others thought that the game came too soon for him.
Bogusz had a tough first half of the game but improved massively in the second 45. One impressive facet of his game is his confidence and the 18-year-old was constantly looking for the ball and took every opportunity to get a long-range shot off. That’s a good sign even if he had better options on occasion.
He also had a decent chance to score late on but couldn’t convert and make himself the hero.
Here are the best reactions from Leeds fans:
https://twitter.com/Chrislufc87/status/1166607726803345408
Bogusz has played with a lot of the Leeds senior players in the Under-23s but it’s still a different proposition coming into a first-team match at a raucous Elland Road. As this fan pointed out, Bogusz did struggle in the first half but definitely found his feet after the break and possibly a talking-to from manager Marcelo Bielsa.
https://twitter.com/Mr_Tasker/status/1166475299099422721
Bogusz is a unit for his age and looks older than his 18 years. Looking at him it’s easy to forget how young he is and he played with a swagger at Elland Road that suggested he’d had much more first-team experience.
I thought it looked slightly too son for Bogusz as wel to be honest
— Josh (@jjrgreeney) August 28, 2019
I’d say more a 5, agree he was brave enough to keep getting on the ball just that product wasn’t there especially first half. There is definitely a player there though
— Josh (@jjrgreeney) August 28, 2019
https://twitter.com/owen6leith/status/1166483779663421440
Some Leeds fans were left cold by Bogusz’s debut with one saying that he was “not the player I saw in pre-season”. That seems like a harsh assessment of a player who definitely came into the game after Bielsa’s changes at half-time.
Leif Davis and Bogusz played really well tonight. #lufc
— BF (@BenWFinch91) August 27, 2019
https://twitter.com/stanners_1982/status/1166476385705242624
https://twitter.com/PLATINUMnotGREY/status/1166464523697631233
https://twitter.com/LucasG1998/status/1166461117050314752
https://twitter.com/LUFCLDP1989/status/1166458407408349186
Bogusz very good. McCalmont 3 behind him didnt give him any confidence and Costa at rwb didnt work and poor idle Jack Clarke alot of their games first half
— Bryn Johnson (@BrynLufc) August 27, 2019
Plenty of other fans thought his debut was impressive and one fan was reminded of comments made by Polish teammate Mateusz Klich. Klich had said that Bogusz had the talent to be a better player than him and the fan followed up by pointing out Bogusz was “not scared to let one go”. Another fan said he was “class” and an “absolute machine”.