One of the tenets of Marcelo Bielsa's coaching tenure at Leeds United was his insistence on a thin first-team squad of no more than 18 to 20 senior players.
In the opinion of the Argentine, it was suitable for Leeds' 25-man Premier League squad to contain a skeleton crew of first-team bodies, bulked out by several U23 players.
It transpired over the 2021/22 season that even with several injuries to key first-team personnel, Bielsa's reluctance to field those same young players led to the likes of Cody Drameh and Crysencio Summerville requesting loan moves.
Within the U23 group routinely involved in senior matchday squads, Joe Gelhardt featured most frequently for Marcelo Bielsa, playing just shy of 400 Premier League minutes.
Leo Hjelde, Crysencio Summerville, Cody Drameh, Charlie Cresswell, Lewis Bate, Sam Greenwood, Liam McCarron and Stuart McKinstry all made Premier League debuts this season, but none managed more than 150 minutes under Bielsa.
New head coach Jesse Marsch took the decision to field Joe Gelhardt for the final half hour of Leeds' defeat to Leicester City last Saturday, overlooking the likes of Tyler Roberts, and - an admittedly unfit - Patrick Bamford on the bench.
It felt very much like a seed change, with the ex-Red Bull Salzburg boss famed for his hands-on approach with young players, selecting one of the club's most promising U23 players as his first substitution.
Following Leeds U23s' 1-1 draw with Mansfield Town's youngsters on Monday afternoon, LeedsLive spoke to new U23s head coach Andrew Taylor.
Taylor had previously been loan manager at Elland Road, but has been placed in charge of the development squad after Mark Jackson was promoted to Jesse Marsch's backroom team.
Taylor predicted a more 'traditional' approach to U23 football moving forwards, intimating that the first-team squad and U23 group would be less integrated than under Marcelo Bielsa.
This does mean, however, that several standouts from Leeds' U23 fixtures over the past two seasons have been promoted to first-team affairs, at least until the end of the season.
"Hopefully you do [have them with the U23s], but hopefully not, because that'll mean they're playing for the first-team and that is the ultimate goal," Taylor said.
"From a selfish point of view, I'd love to have [Crysencio] Summerville, Joe Gelhardt, Sam Greenwood, Cressy [Charlie Cresswell], Lewis Bate, Nohan Kenneh but at the same time from a club's point of view, the whole aim is to have a pathway and show that progression.
"The fact they're involved with the first-team, okay it makes it difficult for us, [but] fantastic for them, and gives younger players the opportunity to go and step in."
The absence of Charlie Cresswell and Nohan Kenneh made room for Kris Moore and Joe Littlewood to excel in the young Whites' 1-1 draw with Mansfield, reinforcing Taylor's latter point.
Additionally, the U23s coach did not rule out the possibility of the aforementioned youngsters returning to the development group if senior staff were to deem it appropriate.
However, the impression was their U23 involvement would be somewhat limited under the new regime.
"There might come a spell when they need minutes, or need to play; we'll welcome them back with open arms, but at the same time if they're in with the first-team and involved there, then so be it.
"I'm still fresh into it after a few days," Taylor added. "We're all trying to learn what's going on from the first-team down.
"I think we'll probably see a little bit more of a traditional model, that's my initial view - in terms of: if they're playing in the U23s, they're in the U23s."
This tallies with Jesse Marsch's comments on the youth setup during his first press conference as Leeds boss: "In the moment when I talk about prioritising what we need to do, that [U23s] connection is probably a little bit on the back burner."
While there may not be a noticeable difference in the minutes played by Leeds' U23s at senior level, the discernment between first-team squad and U23 side appears tangible.
The likes of Gelhardt, Greenwood, Cresswell, Summerville, Bate and Kenneh are now - for all intents and purposes - regarded as first-team players.
