Roberto Mancini gushes over Leeds United attacker WIlly Gnonto as he discusses Italy squad
Roberto Mancini has been left impressed by what Willy Gnonto has done this season after moving to Leeds United in the summer.
The 19-year-old was signed on transfer deadline day after Leeds failed to sign their priority targets and he’s gone on to become a first-team regular in a few months.
Mancini, while explaining the decision to pick certain players, claimed that Gnonto is the only striker on his side who’s been playing well and on a regular basis.
The one-time Premier League winning manager with Manchester City said, via Football Italia, “We have three strikers, Retegui, Scamacca and Gnonto, one of them will start. Hopefully, they feel well. Scamacca can’t play for 90 minutes. He played 65 minutes on Thursday and this was it. Gnonto is the only one playing consistently. Nobody looked for him in Italy, and he is playing in the Premier League.
“Why nobody signed Gnonto? He could have gone to Fiorentina, Samp…he could have played for any team, but he is a starter in the Premier League.”
Some signing
At the time, Gnonto looked like someone Leeds were settling for as it was pretty clear that he wasn’t the first choice option.
He took a while to get going but once he got used to the pace and physicality of the Premier League, there’s been no stopping him.
Now, teams are starting to double team the Italian in order to ensure that he doesn’t wreak havoc in the final third and nobody would’ve thought he would be that influential.
Once he sharpens himself up and becomes a more complete player, the sky is the limit for Gnonto.
His valuation has easily gone up at least seven times if not ten times and if a big club comes in for him, Leeds can demand a lot of money.
That’s of course, if he would want to leave, but that does not seem to be the priority for him now as he’s loving his football and hopefully, manages to keep Leeds up.
In other Leeds United news, the Whites may have yet another injury concern going into the international break as player has trouble with his left ankle after the Wolves win.
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