Twelve months later was the planned arrival time at Leeds United for Wilfried Gnonto in some versions of the recruitment plan Jesse Marsch saw this summer. On what proved to be a chaotic final day of the transfer window last week, the Whites shifted their plans around and added the 18-year-old as Daniel James departed.
On a day which began with Victor Orta pursuing Cody Gakpo in Eindhoven, set up a flight for Bamba Dieng from France and ended with a series of reported late false dawns, Leeds were left making plans for an Italy international. Gnonto had been mentioned in dispatches across the summer from various European sources, so news of his signature was not out of the blue, but Marsch had been on the record with his reservations about the teen’s immediate impact.
Saturday proved the second time Marsch has admitted Gnonto was a forward Leeds see as a prospect for the future rather than making a 22/23 mark. Indeed, Orta and United’s top brass were weighing up a January or summer 2023 swoop.
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“We had A, B and C options in a lot of different ways and we were sorting through how to get things done and trying to evaluate how to make moves,” said Marsch. “It was a very crazy last 48 hours.
“We had a plan and certain things got pulled out from under us, based on decisions from players and agents and clubs we didn't anticipate. We thought we were on the same page with certain things and it turned out we weren't.
“In the end, we had been following Willy Gnonto’s progress for some time and we were thinking we [would] leave him in Zurich, with the idea we bring him in a transfer window or maybe two, just give them time to continue to develop where he was at. Then we felt we needed to accelerate that decision based on what the window was panning out to be.
“I've heard there's been some criticism, but actually, we're very happy with our transfer window and we've made some really good additions and we're going to continue to get stronger as a team.”
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