Joe Gelhardt’s departure from Leeds United appears to be a foregone conclusion after he was passed over for the match against Sheffield Wednesday.
The Whites and their Yorkshire rivals battled to a scoreless draw at Elland Road on Saturday, September 2. The 21-year-old was not deployed as a replacement.
Under the new manager Daniel Farke, it looks that the forward has suddenly slipped down the pecking order, and a January transfer may be in the works.
Since moving to Leeds from Wigan Athletic three years ago and making a name for himself with some standout performances for the Lancashire club, Gelhardt has experienced a mixed bag of success.
He is one of many young English players who the Whites have signed in recent years with the aim that they may eventually play a significant role in the first squad.
The attacker has been in his greatest form for the team when playing for the U-21s, scoring 20 goals and dishing out six assists in 30 outings.
However, after displaying early potential, he has been mainly unimpressive at that level since making his first-team debut against Fulham in the Carabao Cup in 2021.
Despite appearing in up to 47 games for the club, he only managed to score three goals and provide seven assists, so it’s not like he’s been absolutely without opportunities.
By awarding Gelhardt a new five-year deal that would keep him with the team through the summer of 2027, the team demonstrated last year that they had faith in his potential.
However, given that he was given a loan to Sunderland in January to play some regular first-team games, it appears as though his circumstances may have changed since then.
He achieved precisely that last season, contributing three goals and three assists in order to help the team advance to the Championship playoffs.
On his return to Leeds, he was linked with a permanent move back to the Stadium of Light but that never materialised.
In an unexpected turn of events, Lecce of Italy were also said to be interested in the forward because they thought he could “explode” if given the chance.
But despite the Whites’ lack of attacking alternatives as they began their first season back in the Championship, he continued to live in West Yorkshire.
As he scored in the 2-1 Carabao Cup victory over Shrewsbury Town, he really started in four of Farke’s first seven competitive matches in charge, but his league performances haven’t particularly stuck out.
Gelhardt has only played five minutes in the last two games due to the fact that Georginio Rutter has remained at Leeds and Joel Piroe has been signed for a substantial sum of money from Swansea, and his opportunities appear to be declining over the next several months.
The youngster’s chances of making the matchday squad at all may potentially be in jeopardy due to the return of fellow striker Patrick Bamford.
The forward’s playing time with the squad is expected to decline, so it wouldn’t be shocking to see him sent out on loan once more in January.
But there will be questions in the back of his mind about whether he is ever really going to be able to nail down a place in the side, potentially leading to a permanent exit in the not-too-distant future.
