Phil Hay has been speaking on The Athletic’s Leeds United podcast about how impressed he and people inside the club are and have been with Joe Gelhardt.
The 19-year old striker has certainly proved himself within Leeds’ under 23s’ having netted 17 goals in 24 games since he joined from Wigan Athletic last summer and that has seen him handed minutes with the first team in both the Carabao Cup and Premier League.
Should Gelhardt start for Leeds United?
Yes!
No!
This opportunity may not have come about had Patrick Bamford been fit, however, Gelhardt has certainly taken his opportunity as his solo run against Wolves won Leeds a penalty which Rodrigo converted but moments before that he saw a thumping effort tipped over by Jose Sa.
Considering Marcelo Bielsa is willing to hand him these minutes and chances, there’s no surprise people within the club have been impressed with the striker, as Hay spoke about.
(35:21) “In plain sight, he looks incredibly talented, incredibly gifted, it all seems to be very natural and he seems to understand where to position himself when the ball is coming to him.
“He seems to know how to beat defenders and he’s so comfortable with the ball at his feet and I think not just with the ball at his feet, but when he’s moving at pace it almost sticks to him and that’s quite a rarity.
“You have to be careful of overhyping players because he is only 19, he hasn’t played much at this level yet but I tend to go by what people around him say and within Leeds, they’re massively impressed by him.
“At Wigan, they were hugely impressed by him there were enough clubs interested in him when Wigan put him up for sale to know that they think that you know across the boardroom the club see him as Premier League potential without a doubt.”
TIF Thoughts on Gelhardt and his potential…
Gelhardt was handed his competitive first-team debut at Wigan when he was just 16-years old, so clearly, if a player is featuring in the Championship at that age he very likely has some potential and talent. Leeds then recognised that and snatched him from the Latics who were struggling financially at the time, so their loss certainly appears to be Leeds’ gain.
Having now had the taste of first-team football for a Premier League club, Gelhardt will have his eyes firmly fixed on making those minutes a more regular occurrence and with Rodrigo and Tyler Roberts far from firing on all cylinders, this could be a perfect opportunity for the striker to show he’s good enough to even be a back up to Bamford when he’s fit.
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