Jesse Marsch has moved to explain his plans for summer recruit Wilfried Gnonto, who is still waiting to make a senior debut for Leeds United. The Italy international has been with the Whites for almost two months now and despite praising him regularly, Marsch is yet to look his way in a Premier League fixture.
Gnonto caught many by surprise at the start of the month after appearing to jump ahead of Joe Gelhardt in the head coach’s pecking order to claim a spot on the bench for the Whites. He has been named as a substitute on several occasions since, too, to give United attacking options off the bench.
However, despite being involved in the squad on Thursday night at Leicester City, he dropped out of the fold this weekend and was allowed to play 45 minutes for the U21s at Middlesbrough on Saturday. It wasn’t the first time Gnonto has represented Michael Skubala’s youth side, making four appearances for the Whites in total, with his first goal for the club coming against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.
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The 18-year-old caught the eye in wins over Southampton and Tranmere Rovers, too, but his performances haven’t been enough to earn him a Premier League outing. Marsch has spoken previously about feeling the need to be braver with the club’s youngest players and he was specifically asked about Gnonto in his post-match press conference following Leeds’ 3-2 defeat to Fulham.
“Yeah, he played 45 for the 21s and we considered putting him on the roster here,” he explained. “Right now it's been a little bit him or Joffy and he comes in and makes a case for himself, but we really like Willy.
“He's also very young and then we've got we've got to figure out how to make the right decisions on line-ups and subs and everything. Again, I think the players are investing everything, I take responsibility.”
Gelhardt was one of those used on Sunday, stepping off the bench for the final six minutes of the contest and he was the man who set up 20-year-old Crysencio Summerville’s stoppage time consolation effort.
“I think that Joffy comes in and makes a point for himself,” Marsch said. “I've had this discussion a lot with the staff like, how to use Joffy, put him on the pitch more, get him involved more, because we know that one of the things he can do is he can make plays. So he comes in and does that.
“Cry started on Thursday and we brought him in again today because we believe he has a big future. Even a lot of the players, you know, Brenden (Aaronson) and Luis (Sinisterra) and Tyler (Adams) and Rasmus (Kristensen) and some of the guys we brought in, they're all young, too, and they need to develop into the Premier League experienced players that we know they can become.”
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