Leeds United: Mateo Joseph admits Leicester staff member texted him not to win ‘too much’
Emile Heskey has been telling Mateo Joseph not to “win too much” with Leeds United this season as he wants Leicester to be promoted, the Whites striker has revealed.
In an interview with The Times on 12 April the Elland Road youngster, whose father is the former Foxes forward’s cousin, discussed his football development in Spain as a youngster prior to being signed by former sporting director Victor Orta.
The 20-year-old, who scored his first goals for the club in the 3-2 FA Cup defeat at Chelsea on 28 February and then rescued a point with a late equaliser at Watford a month later, says he has been working in the gym to improve his strength as he aims to get more involved under Daniel Farke, but amid a heated Championship promotion battle admits Heskey, who came through at the then-Walkers Stadium and is now the head of football development for Leicester’s women’s team has been looking out for the Whites’ rivals.
Joseph said of the former England striker: “He is the cousin of my father. It’s a good thing to have such a good player in the family. I didn’t see him too much as a kid because I grew up in Spain.
“I speak to him, not too much, but when I play or something, he texts me and the other day he said, ‘Good luck, but don’t win too much because Leicester has to go up too!’”
Leeds United ace related to ex-Liverpool man Emile Heskey
Clearly Joseph will have ignored that request, just as Heskey would expect him to, but despite both clubs’ hugely-impressive form this season, until recently at least, neither are guaranteed to return to the Premier League.
Whites supporters might be panicking at the dip in form that has seen Daniel Farke’s side fail to win either of their last two fixtures, and three of the past four.
But Enzo Maresca’s men have comparatively fallen off a cliff in recent weeks after their stunning first half to the season, with Friday night’s 1-0 defeat at Plymouth making it six defeats and a draw from their past 10 outings.
And yet they are top of the table on goal-difference from second-placed Ipswich heading into the rest of the weekend fixtures, with Leeds United a point behind both.
While Southampton are a further nine off the Whites they also have two games in hand and could be in with an outside chance of a top-two finish, so the tight battle at the top won’t see anyone making allowances for family allegiances to rivals.
Joseph’s development this season has been impressive, and while he has had Joel Piroe and Patrick Bamford to get past he has shown enough to suggest he could be a first-team regular before long.
He has already surpassed Joe Gelhardt in the pecking order, and has left former under-21 strike partner Sonny Perkins behind.
And after rescuing a vital point at Vicarage Road with his first league goal for the club there is every chance he could still have a key influence on the title race as well.
In other Leeds United news, Phil Hay has shared a profit and sustainability update after the release of new official financial figures from Elland Road.
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