Leeds United

Leeds United: Phil Hay backs Joe Gelhardt to break through to the first team

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Image for Leeds United: Phil Hay backs Joe Gelhardt to break through to the first team

Phil Hay has been speaking on the latest edition of The Athletic’s The Phil Hay Show about all things relating to Leeds United.

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Starting with an easy one who is Leeds United's top Premier League goalscorer this season?

One of the topics that he spent some time on was the Whites’ Under-23s and which players he can see breaking into the first team.

The man that Hay thinks is most likely is Joe Gelhardt, who has been on the bench in the Premier League on eight occasions this season and is rated very highly.

He has had a brilliant season for the Under-23s, scoring 11 goals and providing three assists in 16 league games.

Certainly, Hay believes that Gelhardt will make it into the Whites’ first team at some point.

He said: “If you were asking me to put my mortgage on it, I would go for Gelhardt.

“I spoke to Nick Chadwick, the ex-Everton striker who worked with him at Wigan, and he said [that] Gelhardt [was] just extraordinarily talented and [a] bit of a body shape similar to Rooney’s, [a] bit of a skill set similar to Rooney’s as well.

“So absolutely, he’d be the one I was putting money on.”

Do you think Gelhardt will get a first-team chance?

Yes, at some point

Yes, at some point

No, not this season

No, not this season

TIF Thoughts on Gelhardt…

The Whites signed the 18-year-old from Wigan Athletic for £900k and judging by his performances so far, you would have to say that he has been worth every penny.

He also must be impressing Marcelo Bielsa because the Argentine has had him on the bench quite a few times this season.

However, he is yet to make his first-team debut, and it will be interesting to see if Bielsa does hand Gelhardt some minutes before the end of the season.

If not, then hopefully we get to see more of him next year as he clearly has some talent, and it would be exciting to see Leeds use him.

In other news: Phil Hay drops transfer plans claim on Leeds United ahead of ‘crucial’ summer

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