Leeds United correspondent Beren Cross has been speaking on the latest episode of The Blue, White and Yellow podcast to discuss the Carabao Cup win against Fulham on Tuesday night.
Stuart McKinstry was one of the players who was given their debut for the Leeds senior side by Marcelo Bielsa on Tuesday night after coming off from the bench for Crysencio Summerville in the 75th minute.
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The 19-year-old midfielder was also one of the players to successfully convert their penalty in the shootout after the two sides could not be separated at the conclusion of the 90 minutes.
McKinstry has made a bright start to the season for Leeds’ U23s side in the Premier League 2, with two assists in the three appearances he has made for the development side (via Transfermarkt).
And discussing how the youngsters got on in the game at Craven Cottage, Cross had a glowing review of how the club view McKinstry’s potential for the future.
“There’s even some times where he hasn’t played or hasn’t started and has been quite on the periphery and has been moved around the side into quite a few different positions and seems to be used to kind of fill in gaps.
“But clearly, something has gone on behind the scenes for him to kind of propel himself up the ranks and become an option for Bielsa and ahead of some other players.
“And I think looking further back, he’s very, very highly regarded. He is very much one of the best players Motherwell have produced in recent years and Leeds had to fight off quite a lot of competition to bring him in, and the hopes are very, very high that in the long term, he’s going to become quite a special player for Leeds.”
TIF Thoughts on Leeds’ youth players…
As the game went on at Craven Cottage, Leeds were bringing on some of their youth players whilst Fulham were introducing some of their more senior figures.
The Whites were able to fight off a late winner from the hosts and we were certainly impressed to see some of Bielsa’s younger members of the squad hold their nerve in the penalty shootout.
Although these youth players who featured on Tuesday night may not be included in the squad to play West Ham United on the weekend, it seems McKinstry, in particular, is very highly regarded as one to watch out for in the future.
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