After registering just 53 minutes of Premier League football across Leeds United’s last five games, people are starting to wonder what is going on with Wilfried Gnonto. What has changed for the Inter youth product since Javi Gracia arrived at Elland Road?
Leeds have played 10 Premier League matches since Gracia took over on February 21. Gnonto has started just two of them: Gracia’s first game in charge against Southampton and the 4-2 win over Wolves a few weeks later.
On both occasions, Gnonto was pulled off after exactly 60 minutes, but Leeds went on to win both matches. The Yorkshiremen have only one once more (against Nottingham Forest) in Gnonto’s absence.
However, excluding his two starts, the Spaniard has only deployed Gnonto for a total of 99 minutes, spread across five substitute appearances. For three games, Gnonto was left out of the team altogether.
The contrast is intriguing. Gnonto had started 10 consecutive games in the Premier League prior to Gracia’s arrival and had been lauded as one of the bargains of the season after his €4.5 million move from FC Zurich at the start of September.
At 19 years old, he has four goals and three assists to his name across his 23 competitive appearances for Leeds since the beginning of the season and was described by The Athletic’s Phil Hay as one of the team’s biggest impact players this season.
But, at present, nobody seems to be able to explain why Gnonto can’t seem to get into the Leeds line-up. The TV pundits can’t understand it, and local reporters are currently unable to get any detailed answers out of the coach.
“Many players can play,” was his most recent explanation after Leeds’ 1-1 draw with struggling Leicester City on Tuesday evening.
He continued: “I can understand all the feelings of my supporters but my job is to try to take decisions and I tried to do it by thinking about what is best for the team.”
Meanwhile, the Leeds supporters are growing increasingly frustrated with Gnonto’s exile from the starting line-up.
On social media, the theories are brewing and the possible explanations are endless. Some have likened the situation to if Marcelo Bielsa had decided to drop now-Barcelona starter Raphinha two years ago.
Others have suggested that there could be a clause in the deal with FC Zurich relating to the number of minutes Gnonto plays in his first season in England.
In short, nobody knows what exactly is going on with Gnonto, but the supporters are desperate to see the talented young Azzurri back in the first team picture as soon as possible.