While Leeds United are in need of some youngsters to step up to the plate, one is beginning to make a real impact out on loan.
Daniel Farke‘s squad has been bitten by a series of injury problems lately, with the newest the most disappointing of them all.
Ethan Ampadu is set to miss the next 10 weeks after picking up a knee injury in the 3-0 win over Coventry City, which will be the first time he has not started a league match since joining from Chelsea in July 2023.
Max Wober, Manor Solomon, Dan James and Isaac Schmidt are all also absent for the trip to Norwich City, leaving Leeds desperately short of senior bodies for the bench.
As such, Charlie Crew and James Debayo will both have to step up for Leeds in the coming weeks and months, providing Farke is willing to place his trust in them.
Rooney has huge praise for Leeds youngster Darko Gyabi
One midfielder Leeds will be unable to call upon is Darko Gyabi, as he is currently out on loan at Plymouth Argyle under Wayne Rooney.
This is the second time Gyabi has moved to Home Park after spending the second half of last season there too, but it was new manager Rooney who wanted to bring him in again.
Rooney’s assistant Pete Shuttleworth recently suggested Gyabi could become one of the Championship’s best players if he can become more consistent.
And his performance on Friday against Luton Town was more evidence of that, as his darting run from one box to another helped set up Plymouth’s second goal of the night.
Speaking to the Plymouth Herald ahead of Argyle’s trip to Burnley, Rooney spoke highly of Gyabi’s ability to drive with the ball and believes it is one of his best attributes.
He said: “It was a dead leg from the first half, and especially when you go off at half-time they stiffen up, and it’s hard to get going, although he didn’t show any signs just before that when we get the second goal.
“He drove forwards, which is a real attribute of his, but he felt he couldn’t continue after that, so we made a change.”
What Plymouth’s local media said about Leeds loanee Gyabi
Plymouth’s win over Luton was undoubtedly there best under Rooney so far, and Gyabi played a key role in it. Leeds can take confidence from the fact he is developing into a good Championship player.
And it was that lung-busting carry of the ball that seems to have won Gyabi all sorts of praise. Hopefully he is fit to do the same at Burnley this evening.
Plymouth’s local press wrote: “Darko Gyabi 7 – Had a couple of misplaced passes which Luton did not capitalise on but otherwise this performance from Gyabi continued the recent trend of improvement from him.
“He made a surging lung-busting break from the edge of Argyle’s penalty area in the build-up to them taking a 2-0 lead before passing the ball to his left to Ibrahim Cissoko, who did the rest of the work.
“Gyabi was down on the ground when Luton replied almost immediately due to a dead leg and he was replaced by Jordan Houghton before play restarted.”
Leave a Reply