Jeff Stelling praised the ‘absolutely fantastic’ Joe Gelhardt for his cameo appearance for Leeds United last week, as he told Soccer Saturday on Sky Sports (30/10/21 at 1:05 pm).
In what was his second appearance in the Premier League for Leeds, the 19-year-old came off the bench and helped his side record a much-needed 1-1 draw against Wolves.
It was Gelhardt’s fearless and driving run inside the penalty area that resulted in the home side winning a penalty, before it was converted by Rodrigo in stoppage-time.
That start hasn’t come in the Premier League yet for the young gun and he will be hoping to get that knock on the door against Norwich City on Sunday.
Popular TV presenter and Soccer Saturday pundit Stelling lauded the ‘brilliant’ Gelhardt and the impact he had against Wolves.
“If you are a young footballer, what a place to be than at Leeds United,” said Stelling.
“I mean tell me about Joe Gelhardt and the impact he made last week – it was a brilliant knock from Joe Gelhardt.
“He’s 19-years old. Cost £1 million from Wigan. He only made two league starts for Wigan, so to come in and show that amount of confidence was absolutely fantastic.”
No-one is going to dethrone Raphiniha from Leeds United’s starting XI, but he seems to be the only wide player producing the goods.
Jack Harrison has had a pretty quiet start to the new campaign, whilst Dan James is yet to settle down in Yorkshire after his big-money summer move.
Given that the likes of Kalvin Phillips and Patrick Bamford have been missing in recent weeks, it doesn’t help the above players cause.
But it could be argued that Gelhardt deserves that start against Norwich in a few hours time.
One thing is for sure, with the bottom-of-the-table side yet to win a game this season, the last thing Marcelo Bielsa’s side want to do is hand them those first three points because that would send serious worry through their own camp.
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