Joe Gelhardt suffers injury in Leeds win v Guiseley
Joe Gelhardt suffered an injury as Leeds United beat Guiseley in a pre-season friendly on Tuesday night, according to the Yorkshire Evening Post.
The newspaper claims Gelhardt, 19, suffered a knock just after half-time and “hobbled off” the pitch to be substituted and replaced by Max Dean.
Leeds won the match 3-2 at Guiseley with Crysencio Summerville, Sam Greenwood and Charles Allen all getting on the scoresheet.
Hopefully not serious
Gelhardt was one of the starts of the season for Leeds’ Under-23s team as they won the Premier League 2 Division 2 title last term.
The former Wigan striker, who swapped Lancashire for Yorkshire last summer, scored 11 goals in his 16 Premier League 2 appearances for the Whites.
Gelhardt is yet to make a senior debut for Leeds but after the way he played last season, you’d imagine that he’s not a million miles away.
However, if this injury is a bad one or disrupts his pre-season in any kind of way then it’s bound to be a setback in his development.
Gelhardt is clearly in Marcelo Bielsa’s thinking.
Last term, he got onto Bielsa’s bench eight times in the Premier League.
If Patrick Bamford suffered a dip in form or got injured or suspended then you would imagine that Gelhardt would have made a senior debut by now.
It should happen next season and we really hope it does because he’s one of the most exciting young players on the books at Elland Road at his moment in time.
He’s not the only one, of course.
Summerville tore it up on Tuesday night at Guiseley with a goal and an assist while Greenwood and Cody Drameh are also top young talents.
It will be interesting to see how they all get on next season.
In other Leeds United news, Bielsa has privately said this midfield possesses Champions League attributes.