Daniel Farke has shared his delight at Wilfried Gnonto’s attitude despite his lack of starts for Leeds United in recent weeks.
Gnonto has started just one match since returning from injury in mid-October, which came in the 1-0 defeat at Stoke City.
The 20-year-old has instead had to settle for a place on the bench and watch on as the likes of Crysencio Summerville and Dan James produce goals and assists, week in, week out.
Speaking in his pre-match press conference, Farke has spoken about the way Gnonto has applied himself despite his obvious disappointment at not playing, citing his celebration with Summerville last week as something that really pleases him.
Not for the first time this season, Gnonto sprinted off the bench and onto the pitch to celebrate Summerville putting Leeds in front in the win over Middlesbrough.
Gnonto to get his chance soon
On top of that, Farke is also confident that Gnonto will return to his best in the coming weeks and is constantly reminding him to be patient.
He said: “It’s never easy if you have an injury to come back in if you haven’t played for a few weeks and be at your best. You have to use 10/15/20/30mins in order to be there. We have got a strong group and lots of competition.
“He had a few for example at Stoke, and a few appearances as a substitute when he came in and had 30/35mins. You have to use this. I think he’s had several games where had a big impact, for example the Norwich and Rotherham games where he was excellent.
“Sadly that’s the hard role after injury, it’s not Willy’s fault that he had this injury, just a bit unlucky. We speak a lot with him and say, ‘come on, just stay patient, stubborn and accept when it’s a bit difficult.’ As a young player you can sometimes be over motivated and want to save the world in a few minutes.
“Calm down, stay patient, but also stay relentless and keep going. I’m quite sure he will have more impact and back to his best pretty soon. I have to say what I like a lot about Willy at the moment is his attitude. He’s a young player, Italian international and was always the poster boy.
“Now it’s not easy as he’s on the bench for quite long, but when we score goals you see how much he celebrates and supports the team. When Cree Summerville scored, the first player on the pitch celebrating with him was Willy Gnonto. This is what I like, Djed Spence by the way too.”
Gnonto would start week in, week out for pretty much every other team in this division, but he is just unfortunate to behind a pair of wingers who are on fire.
It is clear that Gnonto has the ability to do exactly what Summerville and James are doing right now, but he just picked up an injury at the most unfortunate time.
With such a busy run of matches coming up in the next few weeks, there is no doubt that Gnonto will get his chance from the start again for Leeds.
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