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Tony Mowbray wowed by Leeds United loanee Joe Gelhardt, player faces 'huge ask' at Sunderland
Tony Mowbray is confident that Leeds United young talent Joe Gelhardt will score goals at Sunderland, but he first needs to settle down at his new club.
The 20-year-old is an exciting young striker who joined the Black Cats on loan in the January window. He came close to scoring for them against QPR on Tuesday (14 February), and Mowbray says he is as “strong as an ox”.
Mowbray adds that it is a “huge ask” for the youngster to perform straightaway, especially coming from a different scenario where he was reduced to bit-part roles at Elland Road.
“He will score goals for us,” Mowbray said, as quoted by Leeds Live.
“He’s a kid who’s played ten minutes here and ten minutes there for Leeds United. He’s hardly played 90 minutes, which is why I was taking him off ready for Saturday so he can give us another hour or 70 minutes.
“Yet he’s strong as an ox, he works his socks off, and he has a rocket in his left foot. He’ll score goals, he’s a really talented boy.
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“He just needs to understand how our team plays and the demands on him, because he is a young boy who has always been behind [Patrick] Bamford and all these foreign Premier League players at Leeds.
“He was getting ten minutes here and there, so for him to come into our team and be asked to play 70, 80, 90 minutes every three days is a huge ask for the kid.”
High hopes
Gelhardt is a fantastic young talent and the Whites have high hopes for him.
He made his debut under Marcelo Bielsa and looked like a special talent every time he took the pitch.
However, he was reduced to only bit-part roles under Jesse Marsch, and the club felt that a loan move away from Elland Road would be beneficial for his progress.
Moreover, he would have dropped down the pecking order at the club following the arrival of Georginio Rutter.
This is his best chance to play regularly at the Championship club, and get some goals under his belt. There is no better feeling than scoring goals for a striker, and this will give him loads of confidence.
One of the major reasons why Leeds didn’t buy a striker last summer was that the club wanted to make sure that Gelhardt gets the right platform for his growth and development.
Let’s hope that he can make the best use of his loan spell. The youngster will be buoyed by the comments made by Mowbray, and this could motivate him to give his best shot.
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