Darko Gyabi, during his first few months in Leeds United’s U23s, has almost looked like a player in cruise control.
He waltzes through reserve team games with a maturity and a swagger which belies his tender years; the £5 million signing from Manchester City at times resembling a PE teacher joining in with the kids on the school field. Man against boys, as they say.
And if there were any concerns about whether Gyabi could follow in the footsteps of Joe Gelhardt and Crysencio Summerville, and make the same sort of impression at senior level, they were emphatically dispelled during Wednesday’s Carabao Cup clash with Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux.
On his first-team debut, 18-year-old Gyabi won four tackles. He completed 82 per cent of his passes. And, to top it all off, he was deservedly singled out by Leeds’ head coach at full-time.
“I think (the youngsters) played really well. Against a team that had a lot of first-team minutes,” Marsch said following a hard-fought one-goal defeat; Gyabi emerging from a head-to-head against the masterful Ruben Neves with his reputation enhanced (LUTV).
“Darko really grew into the game. He was very confident on the ball, and started to initiate things.”
Is Darko Gyabi now pushing Adam Forshaw even further down Leeds United’s pecking order?
If fit, Adam Forshaw would likely have started alongside Gyabi in the Black Country; a man tipped for a bright future in management after he hangs up his boots offering support and advice for a fresh-faced team-mate, coaching him through his maiden senior outing.
The 31-year-old latest injury-enforced absence, however, ruined any plans Marsch may have had for a Forshaw-Gyabi partnership. As such, Leeds’ 1-0 defeat in Wolverhampton could come to represent something very different; the beginning of the end, perhaps, for Forshaw’s Elland Road career.
The long-serving enforcer is out of contract next summer. According to reporter Dean Jones, Forshaw is available for transfer in January too.
With Marc Roca, Tyler Adams, Brenden Aaronson and the ever-improving Sam Greenwood having already combined to push Forshaw down the pecking order, Gyabi’s emergence feels like another potential nail in the coffin.
“He works hard. Darko works really hard,” U23 coach Michael Skubala says of the West Yorkshire newbie. “You can probably see in his performances that he’s working really hard.
“I think his performances are getting better and better. When you look at the way we want to play, he’s learning that a little bit and he’s still on that learning curve. He needs to keep his head down, (keep) working hard, progressing and keep putting in good consistent performances.
“One thing with youth players is they can have really good performances and then not so good. The challenging thing is consistency in performance for these types of players. And Darko has shown some really good consistency within his performances.”
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
