Inside Elland Road: Brenden Aaronson praise
One Leeds United summer loan exit is flying at his new club.
Joe Gelhardt has earned plaudits from a couple of former Leeds United teammates after extending his Hull City hot streak on Saturday.
The 23-year-old netted his sixth Championship goal of the season at Carrow Road as Hull beat strugglers Norwich City 2-0. A calm finish put the tigers 1-0 up on 49 minutes with former Leeds midfielder Darko Gyabi coming off the bench to double his side’s lead shortly before full-time.
Gelhardt has now scored four goals in his last four games and is flourishing at Hull under Sergej Jakirović, having returned to the MKM Stadium on loan for a second spell after initially joining in January. And the young forward is catching the eyes of former teammates in the process.
After netting his latest goal and contributing to a big three points at Carrow Road, Gelhardt celebrated the victory with a post on Instagram. Alongside a few pictures from the day, he wrote: “3 points and a slap off skip @Lewie_Coyle”.
Gray has previously joked about Gelhardt enjoying a Ballon d’Or season on loan at Hull and took his chance to reiterate the point, simply posting a gif of Lionel Messi showing off one of his Ballon d’Or trophies in the comments. Former Leeds teammate Charlie Cresswell also commented: “That is my guy!!”
Gelhardt is enjoying the best form of his young career at Hull and getting the regular football he craved when deciding to leave Leeds initially in January. In the 11 months since, he’s started 30 Championship games for his loan club across two different seasons, scoring 11 goals.
Leeds had initially hoped to get between £3-4m by selling Gelhardt over the summer but Hull were under a transfer embargo preventing any fee-paying arrivals. That, coupled with the youngster’s desire to return to the MKM Stadium, was enough for Elland Road chiefs to sanction another temporary exit.
Leeds United loan watch amid Joe Gelhardt form
Gelhardt will therefore return to West Yorkshire next summer, at which point he’ll have a year left on his Whites contract. But if the Liverpudlian continues in such form over the entire campaign, a good fee could still be brought in and Leeds could stand to benefit from a positive loan.
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Leeds will also welcome Largie Ramazani and Mateo Joseph back next summer, following loan spells at Valencia and RCD Mallorca respectively, with decisions to make on both. The pair were both down the pecking order for the immediate future but remain highly regarded by club chiefs
"We think very highly of Mateo,” managing director Robbie Evans told the YEP in September. “He has all the same characteristics of the right profile, skill set, et cetera, to play at any league in Europe, including in the Premier League. He needs the minutes... He's a favourite of the club, he's a favourite of the chairman, and so we hope he does great.
“So again, Largie was not getting the minutes he needed last season. This year, we've added Jack [Harrison] and Noah Okafor so for him to get the minutes he needs, he's better off playing in Spain, and he's being coached by someone that we know and trust [Carlos Corberan], and we hope that's good for him, and that his future is open here, if that's the right thing for him and for the club."
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