£16k-a-week Leeds player surely needs to go on loan after what happened last night – opinion

Thu 10 November 2022 18:15, UK

Leeds United were knocked out of the Carabao Cup last night, but there were plenty of positives to take.

Jesse Marsch gave four players their Leeds debuts, including Mateo Joseph and Sonny Perkins.

It’s been hard for Marsch to ignore the pair given their incredible form in the under-21s.

Joseph has scored 12 goals in 11 appearances this season, while Perkins isn’t far behind him on eight.

Even young Max Dean, who has stepped up when either player has been unavailable, has four goals in five matches.

Marsch has had a conundrum to deal with all season, with his senior strikers struggling for form at times.

Rodrigo Moreno has started the season well, and is currently experiencing a purple patch.

However, Patrick Bamford is still goalless this season, and hasn’t completed 90 minutes once this season.

Marsch has a large number of exciting young forwards pushing to take Bamford’s place.

As well as Joseph and Perkins, he could also call upon Joe Gelhardt, Wilfried Gnonto and Sam Greenwood.

However, after the events of the last seven days, Gelhardt may now need to go on loan in January to continue his development.

Gelhardt needs January loan move

“Mateo Joseph was very good on the day, a little unlucky when in on goal that he couldn’t get something on frame.

“I thought that Sonny Perkins also played really well.

“We used him in a couple of different roles, but I thought he was really intelligent, found a lot of good spaces.

“He was also dangerous and really good defensively.”

Meanwhile, Marsch has admitted he’s a big fan of Gnonto and his assist at the weekend against Bournemouth was phenomenal.

Sam Greenwood has proved he can also play in a deeper role and so that versatility makes him an enticing option to Marsch.

Even Crysencio Summerville, who isn’t a natural striker, is getting more minutes now after being in the goals.

Gelhardt may therefore need a loan move in January given how many players he’s now competing with for minutes.

He’s made ten league appearances this season, but these have mainly been cameos off the bench, and he’s yet to score this season.

Gnonto and Greenwood were both brought on ahead of Gelhardt against Bournemouth when Marsch needed a goal.

However, the sheer number of players Marsch has in that role mean Gelhardt needs to go on loan in January to avoid the development stuttering.