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Leeds United teenager Kris Moore signs first professional contract
Kris Moore has today (12 January) penned his first professional deal at Leeds United after a successful spell in the Under-23s.
The 18-year-old has been a mainstay in Mark Jackson’s Under-23 team this season, playing 14 times in Premier League 2 along with all three Papa John’s Trophy group games.
Moore has even featured on the bench for the first-team at times this season as Marcelo Bielsa battles a wave of injury problems.
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Moore is one of a number of Under-23 players who have benefitted from Bielsa’s injury crisis and found himself among the first team.
His fellow Under-23 teammates Joe Gelhardt, Crysencio Summerville and Cody Drameh are just three of the youngsters the Argentinian has had to call upon with his senior players fit in single figures.
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Moore has been close to his first appearance at senior level but hasn’t come off the bench yet but further issues could see a door open for the 18-year-old.
He will now hope to follow the likes of Leo Hjelde, Lewis Bate and Stuart McKinstry in making his first-team debut this season.
Hjelde especially seemed to take his chance against West Ham in the FA Cup where he looked like a player five years his elder at the heart of the Whites’ defence.
There is every possibility that if Moore gets the same chance, he could look just as composed as Hjelde did and Bielsa could have a really talented crop of players in his hands.
In other Leeds United news, Beren Cross has dispelled the Leeds injury crisis theory.