Leeds United head coach Daniel Farke will be pleased with where his team currently is in the Championship table, after they moved to the top on Sunday.
A dramatic 4-3 win over Swansea in Wales, thanks to a stoppage-time winner from Wilfried Gnonto, ensured that the Whites moved above Sunderland and Sheffield United on goal difference.
However, the German boss could still have some decisions to make when the January transfer window opens for business in around five weeks.
There is one player in the squad who should be ruthlessly cashed in on ahead of the second half of the season, despite once being an exciting talent who was hailed by Marcelo Bielsa.
The Leeds talent who Marcelo Bielsa loved
In November 2021, the Argentine tactician brought teenage talent Joe Gelhardt into his Premier League squad and said that he was not surprised by his integration.
The former Wigan Athletic starlet’s finishing was described as “very good” by Bielsa, who also claimed that the forward “always creates danger” in matches.
Gelhardt, who pundit Jamie Redknapp dubbed a “wrecking ball” and hailed as “really exciting”, featured in 20 matches in the 2021/22 Premier League season and contributed with two goals and two assists as a teenage prospect.
“He’s like a human wrecking ball. I like him, he’s really exciting. He’s fast, he’s aggressive, he gets on the ball, he takes people on. Once he gets into the box, he loves it. That’s where he can do most of his damage.”
He then played 15 times and provided two assists under Jesse Marsch in the Premier League the following term before being sent out on loan to Sunderland in January 2023.
Gelhardt scored three goals and assisted a further three in 18 appearances at Championship level for the Black Cats during that spell, before returning to Elland Road upon Farke’s arrival last year.
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Why Joe Gelhardt should be sold
In the 18 months or so since then, the 22-year-old forward has failed to do enough to suggest that he has what it takes to kick on and become a regular in West Yorkshire.
The left-footed attacker was rarely used during the 2023/24 campaign. He finished with zero goals and zero assists in ten appearances and two starts in the Championship, which shows that Farke did not trust him to play regularly in the second tier.
Gelhardt also scored one goal in three outings in the cup competitions, with a strike in an EFL Cup win against Shrewsbury Town, but that was not enough to earn more game time in the league.
This season, the young centre-forward has only played three times and amassed 73 minutes of action across all competitions for the West Yorkshire outfit.
Per Capology, Gelhardt earns as much as both Mateo Joseph and Joel Piroe, on £15k-per-week. This suggests that the Whites are not getting value for money, as Joseph has scored two goals and provided three assists whilst Piroe has scored six and assisted two.
The former Wigan prospect, who was loved by Bielsa in his early days at Elland Road, has simply not kicked on since his early success in the Premier League under the Argentine boss.
He has failed to break into Farke’s team in the Championship and, now, must be ruthlessly ditched from the squad when the January transfer window opens, due to his lack of impact on the pitch.
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