Jobi McAnuff has praised the impact of a Leeds United youngster for helping soften the blow of losing a number of key players.
After missing out on promotion last season, Leeds unfortunately lost three of their top young talents to the Premier League in Archie Gray, Crysencio Summerville and Georginio Rutter.
That trio were instrumental to Leeds going within a whisker of an immediate return to the Premier League, and so watching them all move on in the same summer was a bitter pill to swallow.
Leeds brought in eight new faces over the course of the window in order to replace them, but it is actually those who were already at the club who have stepped up.
Junior Firpo, Ethan Ampadu, Pascal Struijk and Mateo Joseph have arguably been Leeds’ four stand-out performers so far, all of whom were at Elland Road last season.
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Jobi McAnuff praised Leeds star Mateo Joseph
It is of little surprise to anyone that Firpo, Ampadu and Struijk have stepped up to the plate given they were all key at different stages of last season, too.
However, Joseph is certainly someone who has thrust himself into the limelight since the beginning of the campaign, with the opening day draw against Portsmouth actually his first ever league start for Leeds.
Joseph showed signs of his potential at times in the second half of the 2023/24 campaign, both from the bench and with his two-goal display in the FA Cup defeat at Chelsea.
However, this run of starts in the Championship has just seen him get better and better in such a short space of time, netting his first goal of the season in the recent win against Hull City.
Speaking on the latest episode of the BBC’s 72+ Podcast, former Championship stalwart McAnuff believes Joseph is looking like a really ‘exciting’ player.
He said: “Yes they lost the player we all felt were going to leave, but Mateo Joseph I think now is an exciting young prospect. He didn’t get a lot of game time last season.”
Spain want Leeds star Joseph to spearhead World Cup 2026 side
Such is the potential of Joseph, Spain’s senior side are already eyeing up the Leeds star to be their starting striker at the upcoming 2026 World Cup.
With Alvaro Morata having claimed Euro 2024 could be his last major tournament for Spain, a place in their attack could well be opening up soon.
And according to reports from Spain, Joseph has impressed manager Luis De La Fuente so much, he is seen as first choice in a list of three young strikers that the Spain manager is considering.
With that in mind, you would imagine Leeds simply have to get promoted this season to stand any chance of keeping him next summer.
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