Joyful, intelligent, humble and ambitious: Leeds United’s coaching staff have struck gold with Willfried Gnonto. As students come, the likes of Jesse Marsch and Rene Maric could not ask for much more from the attentive 19-year-old.
The Italy international arrived at Elland Road on September 1, the final day of the summer transfer window, and within a few days, there was a video of his first meeting with Marsch. Gnonto goes into a room where the coaching staff are meeting before he and the head coach chat about his background, language skills and family.
Maric was asked about Gnonto after Friday’s win over Real Sociedad. The assistant head coach could be seen playfully shoving the forward after his substitution, acknowledging another impressive showing on the field.
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The former Borussia Dortmund coach talked up the perfect balance in personality Gnonto had and how it would make him an excellent footballer as he matured and developed.
“He's great, just great,” he said. “The moment he came in, you saw the video when him and Jesse met the first time, you just see Willy’s personality.
“He’s joyful, he is very intelligent, so he speaks four languages on a very, very high level and he's very humble and still ambitious. [He] makes of being a nice guy and still working hard, of being humble and still having the confidence to try things as he did in the games before the break.
“That mixture is making it very easy for us to work with him and it's obviously very nice to have such a great human being in your squad. That's one of the aspects that will make him a very, very good player in the future.”
It's an assessment which must have Victor Orta's scouting department beaming. Not only are the technical and physical attributes of a prospective signing important, but mental traits and a character assessment are just as crucial to making a transfer successful.
Gnonto was one of the highlights in the closing weeks of the season before the World Cup break. After match-turning contributions against Liverpool and Bournemouth, there was a full debut at Tottenham Hotspur.
With Crysencio Summerville now battling an injury, the Italian could yet keep his place in the side for the visit of Manchester City next week.
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