Wilfried Gnonto and Leeds United have officially been relegated from the Premier League after falling to a 4-1 defeat at the hands of Tottenham in the final round of league fixtures in England on Sunday afternoon.
After a turbulent campaign, which has seen three different coaches in the forms of Jesse Marsch, Javi Gracia and Sam Allardyce, the Yorkshiremen have ended the season in 19th place in the Premier League table, with just seven wins all season and a total points tally of 31.
As well as the team’s misfortunes, it has also been a season of ups and downs for Italy international Gnonto, who had originally exceeded expectations when he broke into the first team picture after arriving from FC Zurich for an initial fee of just €4.5m last summer.
The 19-year-old Gnonto had firmly established himself as a regular in the starting line-up under Marsch, and had put in a series of consistently impressive performances, picking up two goals and four assists in his maiden campaign in England.
However, since Marsch was let go in February, opportunities, particularly as a starter have been hard to come by for the teenager, who many had lauded as the bargain of the season a few months ago.
In the 17 league games since Marsch’s departure, however, Gnonto has only started six times and hasn’t scored since then either, though many supporters have been left baffled that the talented teenager has not been able to break back into the starting XI.
The question now is whether Leeds will be able to hold onto Gnonto after their relegation to the Championship. It seems unlikely that the player, who already has 11 caps for the national team under Roberto Mancini, will want to play in the second division after signing on for a Premier League side less than a year ago.
Reports earlier in the season indicated that Juventus, among other teams in Italy, could be interested in making a move to bring Gnonto back to his home country, having left Inter’s academy to join Zurich as a 16-year-old in 2020.
And, with a shake-up in the Leeds boardroom on the cards after majority shareholder Andrea Radrizzani agreed a deal to take over at recently relegated Sampdoria over the weekend, nothing is yet written off in terms of a potential departure for Gnonto.