The Yorkshire Evening Post have reported that Leeds United duo Darko Gyabi and Mateo Joseph are scheduled to jet out of England and fly to Argentina today – as they prepare to represent England at the Under-20 World Cup.
Last week, the £5m midfielder and Spain-born striker were included in Ian Foster’s 21-man squad alongside the likes of Carney Chukwuemeka, Alfie Devine and Alex Scott. England will be considered one of the favourites.
The early departure comes after both players starred in our Under-21’s promotion back to the top tier of Premier League 2 football on Monday night. A 3-0 win over Nottingham Forest in the play-off final saw the 21’s return.
Georginio Rutter, Jeremiah Mullen and Kris Moore got the goals as Leeds bounce back at the first opportunity. But the celebrations, and any chance of first-team involvement in the last two senior games, have been cut short.
That is, for Gyabi and Joseph. Both will now be hoping to help England get out of a group which includes Tunisia, Iran and Uruguay. The tournament begins on Saturday, and England face Tunisia next Monday at 7PM.
Leeds duo Gyabi and Joseph fly to Argentina today for U20 World Cup
Gyabi, who captained England’s Under-19 side in the most-recent international break, is yet to win an U20 cap and he is likely to be back-up for Foster’s main midfield men. But Joseph scored twice in three games in the last break.
He could be in line for regular game time in Argentina, with other options including Tottenham’s Dane Scarlett and Manchester City gem Liam Delap. A real glut of promising talent that will be confident of success in South America.
As for Leeds, it sees them lose a couple of players that might have edged themselves on to Sam Allardyce’s bench in the last two games. But, having failed to so in Big Sam’s first two, it was always unlikely. Good luck, lads.
