What's next for Joseph and Gelhardt as they head out on loan?
Sunday, 10th Aug 2025 21:06 by Tim Whelan
During the last week there has been no news of any more incoming players, but two of our young forwards are going out on loan, as we continue to reshape the squad for the 2025/6 season. While Joseph is off to Mallorca, Gelhardt returns to exotic Hull City.
A statement on the club’s official website on Friday said “Leeds United can confirm Mateo Joseph has joined RCD Mallorca on a season-long loan deal. The 21-year-old forward has made 73 first team appearances for the Whites and contributed towards Daniel Farke’s side being crowned champions last season. We wish Mateo good luck at Estadi Mallorca Son Moix”.
Though the statement mentioned his contribution to our promotion-winning campaign, it has to be said that Joseph didn’t make the best of the opportunity that was handed to him at the start of last season. 12 months ago we thought he was ready to lead the line after an impressive pre-season, but despite working hard he was to score only three goals in 2024/5, and missed one or two critical chances in some vital games.
Joel Piroe soon replaced him as the club’s main striker, with Joseph reduced to mostly making brief appearances off the bench. So it’s no surprise that the club think we need better options up front as me move into a higher division, and yet Joseph seems to be regarded considerably more highly in Spain, with his eight goals in 12 appearances for their under 21 side.
It may be that the 21 year-old his style of play is better suited to Spanish football, and he reportedly asked to leave Leeds for a club in his native land, after he decided not to join the rest of the squad for the pre-season trip to Germany. His antics have led to a barrage of criticism on social media, and it’s a bit of a surprise that he isn’t leaving Leeds on a permanent transfer.
He was linked with a move to Real Betis, but according to Ben Cross in the Athletic, Leeds rejected loan offers which included pre-agreed purchase options, and the plan is to see how he gets on before deciding if there can still be a future for him at Elland Road. Any transfer fee received would be pure profit, but even if we do need to pick up cash to meet our PSR commitments in 2025/6, we would still have until June 30th. next year to make a sale.
It might also be surprising that Joe Gelhardt isn’t leaving on a permanent transfer, but there might be different reasons he is only leaving us on loan. Although he bust onto the scene with some stellar performances in our relegation-avoiding season of 2021/2, he hasn’t kicked on since then, and as he’s reached the age of 23, you’d think that if he was ever going to establish himself as a first team player, it would have happened by now.
Perhaps he’s a victim of the modern trend for teams to play with only one striker, as he would have been ideal as the smaller striker in a pair. He found during a loan spell at Sunderland that he hasn’t got the physique to play as a lone striker. And yet he managed impress during his loan spell at Hull during the second half of last season, twice being voted player of the month, and scoring five goals as the Tigers managed to avoid relegation.
In some of his 20 appearances for Hull he played out wide, but new Tigers coach Sergej Jakirovic intends to use him as a ‘number 10’ behind the main front man, making late runs into the box. And if that works, it could well prove to be Joffy’s best position. Leeds were trying to get £3m pounds for the player, but it was always his preference to go back to Hull, and according to ‘Hull Live’, several members of their squad did their best to entice him to return.
But Hull can’t do a permanent deal as they’re under a transfer embargo unto January 2027, which means we haven’t even received a loan fee for Joffy, though they are at least paying a portion of his wages. The sanction was imposed after they were late paying a loan fee to Aston Villa, and they are now £60m in debt after the wage bill increased by 218% since Acun Iliaci took over at the MKM.
But Iliaci continues to insist that everything is OK and he’s got it all under control. OK. Gelhardt’s Leeds contract runs until 2027, but it now looks unlikely that we will see him back at Elland Road as a first team player. But will join the official website in saying that “everyone at Leeds United wishes Joffy the best of luck during his time away from the club.”
_Reuters_
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