Marsch says Leeds teenager Gelhardt has impressed him in training

Add as preferred source on Google

Leeds United have a star of the future on their hands in the shape of Joe Gelhardt, who has been impressing his new boss in training.

Jesse Marsch told his pre-match press conference before the clash with Southampton on Saturday that his players had a training game this week and Gelhardt caught the eye.

The 19-year-old scored a goal which could be so big for Leeds’ season against Norwich earlier this month, with the Whites now looking more likely to avoid relegation.

“It was a shame because we were considering him to start against Wolves. And then the whole week he didn’t train because first he was going to play against Manchester United in the 23s match,” said Marsch of Gelhardt.

“Then the intention for Wolves was to play from the start or more minutes and then he just had this back spasm that prevented him a little bit from training.

“We got him training a little bit last week, and then this week, so that part’s been good. And he has to play, young players have to play in order to improve and he has the quality to do so. So I’m not so concerned about it. I believe in him entirely.

“And I know he’s going to get better and better. When we had a little bit of a test match on Friday, he played really well. We played basically the first team against the 23s for 45 minutes.

“And I think at the end of the 45 minutes it was 10-2. And Joffy played great in that moment. He had I think a goal or two and it was a strong performance from the front four guys. They were incredibly powerful and direct and aggressive.”

Patrick Bamford may yet play again this season but in the interim, 19-year-old Gelhardt could be asked to step up in attack if he is fully over his injury issues.

He has so much ability that it just is about getting the balance right between playing him – as Marsch says, youngsters needs games to improve – and protecting him.

Leeds are still in relegation danger but should be fine if they can maintain their current momentum and Gelhardt is as big a goal threat as they have without Bamford.