Leeds United Unveil New Signing Jean-Mattéo Bahoya
LEEDS, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 02: Jean-Mattéo Bahoya poses for photos after signing for Leeds United at Elland Road on September 02, 2026 in Leeds, England. (Photo by Malcolm Bryce/Leeds United via Getty Images)
On Wednesday, Leeds United were dumped out of the Carabao Cup by our bitter rivals, Chelsea.
Despite being 2-0 up, Leeds threw it all away in the second half. Chelsea’s substitutes, mainly Cole Palmer and Morgan Rogers, turned the game on its head.
Another thing that turned the game on its head was Jarred Gillett’s decision to award Chelsea a soft penalty following Dan James’ challenge on Pep Chavarria. This ultimately sparked their comeback. However, at the same time, James didn’t need to dive in.
But despite all the chaos of the nine-goal thriller, one particular Leeds player will be bitterly disappointed. He was handed a brutal reality check by Daniel Farke during our trip to Stamford Bridge.
Jean-Matteo Bahoya is yet to make his Leeds United debut
Farke used the midweek cup tie to award Melvin Bard and Michael Zetterer debuts.
Notably, Jean-Matteo Bahoya was left on the bench. The French winger initially joined us on loan from Eintracht Frankfurt. But if Bahoya makes a certain number of appearances for us, he will join us permanently for around £25.7million.
On paper, last night’s game looked to be a perfect opportunity to give Bahoya a run-out. Personally, I would’ve started him, but for the 21-year-old to not get any minutes at all is criminal.
Bahoya had to watch from the bench as Brenden Aaronson, who is not even a natural left winger, started there instead. Despite the American getting on the scoresheet in the second half, he was poor for the most part. Especially in that first half.
With Chelsea winning 4-2 in the second half, Bahoya looked set to come on before being told to “sit down” after Dominic Calvert-Lewin scored to make the game 4-3, per Beren Cross.
Bahoya now told to sit down after the goal. It will be Gudmundsson. #lufc
— Beren Cross (@BerenCross) September 9, 2026
Instead of subbing on Bahoya, Farke ultimately used his fifth and final change to sub on Gabriel Gudmundsson for Bard.
Cross reported that Farke was told by Bard that he had cramp. Hence the decision to sub on Gudmundsson and not Bahoya.
Farke says Bard indicated he had cramp in the moments before Bahoya was going to come on, which is why he pivoted to Gudmundsson. #lufc
— Beren Cross (@BerenCross) September 9, 2026
However, on a night in which Farke rotated the starting XI and made all five substitutes, Bahoya was not involved whatsoever. This is a brutal reality check for Bahoya, who is clearly already quite far down the pecking order under Farke.
Jean-Matteo Bahoya could be the next Facundo Buonanotte
Facundo Buonanotte, Largie Ramazani and Willy Gnonto are all examples of talented attackers who, for one reason or another, were not given many minutes at various stages by Farke.
I know it’s still early days, but I have a feeling Bahoya may be the next name to join this list.
In his press conferences, Farke has repeatedly referred to Bahoya as a young player. Obviously, in the literal sense, he’s right.
However, this gives me the impression already that he doesn’t see the 21-year-old as someone who is good enough to be playing a regular amount of minutes with the first team.
Hopefully, as he continues to settle in West Yorkshire, we can finally see what Bahoya’s about.
But for now, it looks as if he is fighting an uphill battle to prove to Farke that he should play.