Leeds United’s youngsters impress on international stage

It’s been quite the week for Leeds United’s youngsters. First of all a new Amazon documentary 'Academy Dreams: Leeds United' dropped on Friday. The eight part series, narrated by Leeds United cult hero Vinnie Jones, charts the journey of Leeds United’s youngsters as they try to establish themselves in Premier League 2 Division One during the 2021-2022 season, whilst striving for the chance to break into the first team. Fans get a behind-the-scenes look at Mark Jackson’s squad, the series follows players such as Joe Gelhardt, Sam Greenwood, Crysencio Summerville, Lewis Bate, Charlie Cresswell, Sean McGurk and Nohan Kenneh as the U23’s and first team battle relegation.

Whilst the youngsters of last season star on the small screen, this season’s crop of U21 players have been impressing on the international stage. There may not have been much for England fans to shout about on Friday as Gareth Southgate’s lackluster side suffered Nations League relegation after a 1-0 loss to Italy in Milan but there was a 27-minute cameo from Wilfried Gnonto for Leeds fans to get excited about. Gnonto replaced West Ham United striker Gianluca Scamacca on 63 minutes and generally received positive reviews from the Italian football press. Gazzetta dello Sport said the 18-year-old striker applied ‘constant pressure’ to England's defence while Corriere dello Sport also Gnonto a positive write up…

Mancini understands that there is another Italy on the pitch and after an hour of play he tries to give a further shock by inserting Gnonto and Pobega for the exhausted Scamacca and Barella. The Leeds striker shows himself immediately with a good idea.

Gnonto, with five appearances for the Azzurri already, will be hoping to get his chance in the Permier League for Leeds United this season. But he has competition as demonstrated by Sonny Perkins’ performance for England U19s in their Euro qualifier against Georgia on Saturday. The 18-year-old opened the scoring after just nine minutes, doubling England’s lead ten minutes later from the penalty spot. With England cruising to victory, Perkins completed a 33-minute hat-trick shortly before halftime to make it 3-0 at the break. England would go on to win 6-0 with two second-half goals from Oakley Cannonier and one from Omari Forson. Perkins has now scored 10 goals in seven games for club and country this season, including 6 goals in 5 Premier League 2 appearances for Leeds United’s U21s.


Academy Dreams: Leeds United is now available on Amazon Prime Video