How Joe Gelhardt is doing at Hull City as Leeds loan move provides purple patch

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Leeds United expectedly made a lot of signings in the summer transfer window to set them up for Premier League survival – but it’s their lesser-spoken about loan exits that are really flying.

Leeds spent around £100million to improve areas across the pitch over the summer, with forwards such as Noah Okafor and Dominic Calvert-Lewin coming in, alongside midfield duo Sean Longstaff and Anton Stach, who sit ahead of new defensive recruits Gabriel Gudmundsson, Jaka Bijol and Lucas Perri.

Daniel Farke has had a decent start to the Premier League season, taking three wins from 10 games and sitting four points clear of relegation woes at present.

But if they do stay up, the German boss may well be worth keeping an eye on Hull City loanee Joe Gelhardt, who has burst into life in East Yorkshire in recent weeks.

Joe Gelhardt has been on fire for Hull City after extending loan move from Leeds

Joe Gelhardt spent the second half of last season on loan at Hull, scoring five goals in a rare run of regular minutes having failed to play much in years prior.

And he started this season in even better form, for a Tigers side who were expected to be in and amongst the relegation battle in the Championship.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
1	CoventryCoventry	13	8	4	1	36	12	24	28
2	MiddlesbroughMiddlesbrough	13	7	4	2	16	11	5	25
3	Stoke CityStoke City	13	7	3	3	18	9	9	24
4	MillwallMillwall	13	7	3	3	16	15	1	24
5	Bristol CityBristol City	13	6	4	3	21	16	5	22
6	PrestonPreston	13	6	4	3	17	12	5	22
7	Hull CityHull City	13	6	4	3	22	20	2	22

Two goals in his first four games of the season saw Hull pick up four points, and although he didn’t contribute in any game from mid-September to mid-October, Hull only lost one game in that period.

However, four in his last four have catapulted him to star status at the MKM Stadium.

A stoppage-time clincher at Birmingham City got him back to scoring ways, and he followed that up with a Man of the Match performance at Leicester, grabbing a goal and assist in a 2-1 win.

It was three goals from three games just days later, with his opener against Charlton unfortunate not to win the game for Hull.

And this weekend saw him grab four in four, grabbing a well-worked opener against Norwich to see the Tigers unbeaten in their last six outings.

Against all the odds, the Tigers are just goal difference outside of being in the play-offs, and only six points from the top of the league. Gelhardt has played a huge part in that as their joint-top goalscorer and Leeds fans will be hoping that continues.

Joe Gelhardt played a huge part in Leeds’ survival in 2021-22 and he could still have an Elland Road future

Joe Gelhardt signed for Leeds from Wigan Athletic in 2020, having made 21 first-team appearances for the Latics by the age of 18.

And, although he didn’t feature at Elland Road in his first season, he became trusted by Marcelo Bielsa and Jesse Marsch the following campaign with 22 first-team outings as the Whites survived in the Premier League.

Two goals followed in the top-flight. One was an equaliser at Stamford Bridge which Leeds went on to agonisingly lose, whilst the other was a last-minute winner over Norwich City which kept Leeds in the top-flight in the end – leading to Martin Keown comparing Gelhardt to Lionel Messi.

That sparked wild last-minute celebrations at Elland Road, and he won’t be forgotten for his contributions when it mattered.

It’s been a long road to finding form for Gelhardt, who has a solid record at youth level for England with 21 goals in just 28 caps from under-16 to under-20 level. But if he can keep it up, there is no reason he can’t get into Leeds’ side.