According to The Athletic’s Phil Hay, Leeds United forward Wilfried Gnonto is not leaving the club anytime soon.
This news comes out after rumours over the weekend that he was dropped from the match day squad on Sunday.
Leeds beat Preston North End to continue their four game win streak in all competitions.
It was a rough start to the match as Will Keane gave Preston the lead within the first two minutes of the game. Daniel James then equalized just four minutes later to continue his fine form this season. The game was even at halftime and was a stalemate for a large part of the second half before a penalty in added time handed Leeds the chance to win the game.
Preston second half substitute Ryan Ledson came on in the 70th minute and was responsible for the penalty. Patrick Bamford handed the ball to Joel Piroe who made no mistake and scored his 10th league goal of the season.
Phil Hay revealed the real reason why Gnonto was not in the squad on Sunday, stating that it was just due to an injury:
“He was injured today,” Hay said on The Square Ball podcast. “Daniel Farke said on Friday he has a hip flexor injury and pretty much said at that point he’d miss the game.”
Gnonto rumours won’t go away
Wilfried Gnonto burst onto the scene with Leeds United las year when he joined for a reported £3 million from FC Zurich in the Swiss Super League.
Even though his first season in the English top flight ended with just two goals and four assists, the potential and ability to change games was picked up by multiple teams. He also earned call ups to the Italy national team that year.
Gnonto has been linked with Everton, Aston Villa and even Italian clubs such as AS Roma and Juventus. He looked to be on his way out last summer, but he changed his mind to become a part of Daniel Farke’s team this season.
Should Leeds United sell Gnonto?
The Whites should not be in a rush to sell the young Italian – Leeds are in a fine position and can make the Championship playoffs with a chance of being promoted to the Premier League. Thus they would need all the squad depth necessary to make a push, multiple times this season Gnonto has been called upon to bring a spark off the bench. The ideal scenario for Leeds United would be to keep the forward until the summer and see what happens.
