Jaidon Anthony sends playful message to Willy Gnonto as Burnley win v Leeds United | OneFootball

The former Leeds loanee posted a tongue in cheek message to his former teammate after Burnley ran out 1-0 winners over the Whites on Saturday.

Burnley's Jaidon Anthony has sent a playful message to Leeds United winger Wilfried Gnonto via his Instagram account, after the on-loan Bournemouth winger returned to Elland Road over the weekend with the Clarets.

Saturday's meeting between the two sides marked his return to Leeds for the first time since departing the club, and it was Anthony and Burnley who came out victorious with a 1-0 win, after which Anthony took to his Instagram account to post his playful remark.

Anthony spent the duration of last season on loan with Leeds, in which he made 38 total appearances for the Whites with most of them coming from the bench.

The 24-year-old showed flashes of his talent during his time in West Yorkshire, so much so that newly relegated Burnley picked him up on a season-long loan deal this summer.

After playing the full 90 minutes and helping his Burnley side secure an important three points, Anthony took to his Instagram account to post a tongue in cheek reflection on the game, and indeed his friendship with his former teammate, Gnonto.

The Burnley winger posted three images from the match, with the third being an action shot of Gnonto going into a strong tackle with himself.

Anthony said: "Dominant performance🥴😅 all jokes aside, top character shown to get that +3 and good to be back at Elland Road❤️ @willy.gnonto I thought we was still cool bro😅".

Despite not being as involved in the game as he perhaps would've liked, Anthony was tidy in possession and offered a reminder to his former side of the ability he has.

The Englishman has started and played the full 90 minutes of the two Burnley fixtures since his move to Turf Moor was completed just before the summer window closed, and appears set to play an important role in Scott Parker's side this season.

With Nathan Redmond, Andreas Hountondji, Jeremy Sarmiento, Mike Tresor, Manuel Benson and Luca Koleosho all for company in the wingers department, Anthony will face stiff competition for playing time at Burnley this season

But, Parker has placed his early faith in the Bournemouth loanee, and with an assist on debut and a solid outing at Elland Road, he has been repaying that early trust shown in him from his manager.

Leeds had an embarrassment of Championship riches on their flanks last season, with Dan James, Gnonto, and most importantly for Anthony in terms of his path to playing time, Crysencio Summerville.

The Championship's Player of the Season for 2023/24, the flying Dutch winger registered one of the finest individual campaigns in the second tier that we've seen from a wide player in recent memory, scoring 20 goals and providing nine assists in 46 league appearances.

Operating on the left-wing, Anthony's favoured position, Summerville's form meant he was as close to undroppable as you can get, and with the aforementioned Gnonto and James jostling for starting roles on the right, roadblocks to playing time were everywhere to be seen.

However, when he was offered the chance to impress in a Leeds shirt, his underlying stats and data would suggest that he performed very well during his largely brief cameos.

Anthony's 84.7 touches per 90 minutes were more than any other Championship left-winger last season, whilst his 3.76 shots, 42.3 successful passes and his 84.6% pass accuracy ranked him in the top 97.2 and 87.3% in those respective categories - per FotMob.

As such, it's probably fair to say that Anthony wasn't given enough minutes to reflect the impact he was, and could've continued to have for the Whites last season.

But the presence of such high-class wingers, and with the nature of him only being on loan for the season, meant that it was also understandable as to why others were favoured ahead of him.