The arrival of Diogo Monteiro at Leeds United drew obvious comparisons. The 18-year-old defender was unveiled at Elland Road on deadline day, penning a three-and-a-half-year deal with the club to complete his switch from Servette of the Swiss Super League.
That’s the same league Wilfried Gnonto was playing in prior to his switch to the Whites on the summer deadline day and the attacker’s rise in recent months has been a joy to behold. As such, it’s easy to point to the Italian forward’s success when welcoming Monteiro to West Yorkshire.
However, it would be unfair to expect the same sort of rapid progress to be made by Leeds’ new man as he settles into life at Elland Road. Despite moving to Leeds at the same age, Gnonto had the experience of 74 first-team appearances under his belt while playing for FC Zurich.
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He was already a regular in Roberto Mancini’s Italy side and the goal he scored against Germany in June, a couple of months before his switch to Leeds, saw him become Italy's youngest-ever goalscorer. As such, despite Marsch claiming Gnonto probably wouldn’t be ready for the Premier League immediately, he was expected to be with the senior squad.
Monteiro seems to be at a different stage of his career. The Portugal Under-19 international is clearly highly rated, but prior to his move to United, he had made just seven senior appearances for Servette.
Only two of those were starts, with game time in the Swiss Super League being hard to come by at such a young age. The experience will have been invaluable for the 18-year-old, though, as he looks to settle into life at Thorp Arch quickly and catch the eye.
Jesse Marsch will no doubt be keeping tabs on his progress, but he’ll join up with Michael Skubala’s Under-21s first off, with a first potential outing in a Leeds shirt set for February 13 when the young Whites head to Newcastle United for their next Premier League 2 Division 2 fixture. He’ll more than likely slot into central defence alongside promising defender Jeremiah Mullen and eyes will be on him as he looks to shine.
Leeds’ U21s only have eight more regular season games to play this season as they chase promotion back to the top tier of English youth football and Monteiro will be striving to make a real impact. His goal, though, will be work his way into Marsch’s thoughts and the recent success of others makes the pathway to the first-team clear to see.
The likes of Joe Gelhardt, Crysencio Summerville, Sam Greenwood and Charlie Cresswell are four of the most recent players to make their way into the senior set-up in recent seasons. Sonny Perkins, Darko Gyabi and Mateo Joseph currently find themselves straddling both squads, too.
The above names must provide the motivation for any player in the youth ranks at Leeds at the minute, with youngsters safe in the knowledge that they if they impress enough, they will be welcomed into the senior environment. The pathway will have been made clear to Monteiro before his switch, it may have even been the reason he opted to make the move to Leeds in the first place.
Leeds have their plan for Monteiro and he’ll be one for supporters to watch with added interest in the youth side over the next few months at least.
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