Ryan Edmondson made his senior debut for Leeds United on the final day of the Championship season.
On the final day of the 2015/16 Championship season, Steve Evans made the decision to hand Ronaldo Vieira his senior Leeds debut less than a year after the teenager had joined the Whites’ academy.
It was nothing more than a cameo appearance in the latter stages of the 1-1 draw with Preston North End, but within a few months, Vieira had become a stalwart of the Leeds midfield and established himself as a real star of the future.
Two years on, Paul Heckingbottom decided to hand 16-year-old striker Ryan Edmondson the chance to make his senior bow on the final day of the season as he played the final 14 minutes of Leeds’ 2-0 win over Queens Park Rangers at Elland Road.
Edmondson has been prolific for the under-18s in recent months having joined less than a year ago, and the struggles endured by the likes of Jay-Roy Grot and Caleb Ekuban have seen the fans call for the former York City ace to get an opportunity before the campaign concluded – especially as any hope of a potential play-off push had been dashed several weeks ago.
Given that Leeds have played one striker up top for most of the season, it seems unlikely that Edmondson will enjoy anything like the amount of game-time that Vieira has received since making his debut. However, the similarities between the two should encourage the forward to make the most of pre-season.
He has his foot in the door. And while Heckingbottom would have surely not taken the same gamble if Leeds were seventh in the table and needing a goal in the final 14 minutes to bag a play-off spot, the chance shows that the head coach does have a lot of faith in the teenager.
Leeds need new strikers in the summer, but with Grot and Ekuban among those struggling to impress, Edmondson has a real opportunity to kick on from this point and establish himself in the side much sooner than anyone could have anticipated.
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