What Wilfried Gnonto’s cameo vs Sunderland taught us as Leeds United career nears ultimatum
Wilfried Gnonto has not been able to play the football that he had expected this season with Leeds United.
Coming off the back of a strong campaign in the Whites’ promotion-winning season, the Italian may have thought that he had Daniel Farke‘s trust.
But as the seasons went on, the Italian has found himself starved of game time, which almost led to his Elland Road departure in the winter market.
Leeds‘ 1-0 loss to Sunderland on Tuesday allowed Gnonto some rare minutes, and it has people talking over whether the winger should be played more often, so let’s look at that.
This is what Wilfried Gnonto’s cameo vs Sunderland taught us
A big factor in the underuse of Gnonto recently has been Farke’s shift to a five-at-the-back formation. For the most part, the Whites have operated with wing-backs and central strikers and midfielders, with no room for typical wingers.
But Farke has shown variations in this style, incorporating two ten’s on occasion that sit behind a striker, and who can pull out wide.
- Gnonto grabbed 15 goal contributions for the Whites last season
- He’s started just four league games this campaign
Gnonto played 16 minutes off the bench against Sunderland, taking his Premier League minutes tally up to 380 for the season after replacing Brenden Aaronson.
The 22-year-old showed his willingness to get on the ball and try make something happen, something which many other Leeds players didn’t look interested in doing.
Gnonto looked threatening, just like Dan James off the bench, but in a different way. Nevertheless, his performance has prompted suggestions for a start.
But the issue is, we have seen this before. Gnonto’s problem is that he looks dangerous off the bench, but often can’t translate it into displays from which he starts in.
That’s what could lead him to a sorry LS11 exit in the summer.
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This is Gnonto’s Leeds United ultimatum that’s nearing
Gnonto is still only very young, and will surely develop into a top quality player eventually. It’s easy to think that he hasn’t developed much, but he’s been at Elland Road since he was a young man, which he still is.
There was a chance that the versatile forward could have left in the winter, but he didn’t, and has stayed to fight for his place.
But what he now faces heading into the closing stage of the season is a major uphill battle, a bigger task than before.
Farke has already made up his mind regarding the playing time that Gnonto will get, which means the latter will most likely only have opportunities to impress from the bench.
If things stay as they are, Gnonto will have a decision on whether to leave Leeds in the summer, or continue to fight, but with the Whites targeting further improvements, he could be done for.
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