Leeds United are in no rush to promote Sonny Perkins to Jesse Marsch’s first team after his impressive start to the new campaign.
This has been suggested by Whites correspondent Joe Donnohue, who has been speaking on the latest episode of the Inside Elland Road podcast.
Marsch’s men return to Premier League action on Sunday following the international break which saw Perkins’ stock rise further with an impressive week away with England U19s.
The 18-year-old played in three games over the space of the week and was able to find the back of the net five times, including an impressive hat-trick inside 42 minutes against Georgia (via Transfermarkt).
Combined with his encouraging start for the Leeds U21s, Donnohue has insisted he must not be rushed in Marsch’s plans at such a young age:
“There’s a lot of opportunity there for him to make a case. He doesn’t have to be sort of fast-tracked right now, which is probably not the thing that people want to hear. Everybody wants to see, you know, the best new young thing in the team.
“But as always with development and young players, especially with Leeds, there’s always a plan in place. And the plan was not to sign Perkins this summer and have him in the team within six weeks of the season starting.”
TIF Thoughts on Donnohue’s comments…
Perkins’ start to the new campaign has certainly made his move to Leeds worth the backlash received by his former club who will definitely be looking on in frustration as he continues to shine.
Should Leeds loan out Perkins in January?
Yes
No
Six goals in just five appearances in the Premier League 2 is certainly a promising start but it is worth remembering he is still two years younger than the likes of Sam Greenwood and Joe Gelhardt.
Gelhardt has featured in the first team more prominently out of the two, but it has to be considered whether he would’ve been better off going out on loan instead of being used as a bit-part at Elland Road.
With Patrick Bamford now on the road to recovery, we think, if Perkins wasn’t to play regularly under Marsch, he would be far better continuing his development at youth level and potentially then considering a loan move away in the future.