Leeds United: Marcelo Bielsa signing needed to escape Elland Road this summer - View | OneFootball

Joe Gelhardt needed a move away due to his standing in Farke's squad

Leeds United have had a turbulent last few months in the transfer window with numerous high-profile exits, but one player remained at the club past the deadline despite many expecting him to leave Elland Road.

Crysencio Summerville, Georginio Rutter and Archie Gray all left the Whites over the summer as a mass exodus followed their play-off final defeat to Southampton in May, yet Joe Gelhardt is still a Leeds player despite his game-time being seriously limited since they dropped into the second-tier last year.

The Liverpool-born striker joined Leeds from Wigan Athletic on a four-year deal as an 18-year-old back in 2020 under Marcelo Bielsa, and he has struggled to ever nail down a consistent spot in the squad over the last four years under him, Jesse Marsch, Sam Allardyce or Daniel Farke.

He has a point to prove to Farke this season due to his clear lack of minutes since his arrival last year, but is set to struggle for chances to get on the pitch and may rue not seizing an opportunity to leave the club in the summer if he is once again left sitting on the bench more often than not.

Daniel Farke has seemingly never taken to Joe Gelhardt at Leeds United

Despite his age, Gelhardt was already an established senior player at Wigan prior to his move to Elland Road, after he had made 21 appearances for the Latics across two seasons and netted his first Championship goal as a 17-year-old against Hull City in September 2019.

He was prolific in the under-21 side upon arrival at Leeds, and made his Premier League debut for the club in October 2021, then soon bagged his first Whites goal in a December defeat at Chelsea, and netted an iconic second a few months later as he tapped home a dramatic added-time winner at Elland Road against Norwich City.

Gelhardt started just one league game in the first six months of the 2022/23 campaign, so he went out on loan to Sunderland and impressed at the Stadium of Light with three goals and three assists in 20 games, but could not quite take the Black Cats to the play-off final as they lost in the semi-finals to Luton Town.

He returned to Elland Road in the summer with Leeds back in the second-tier and Farke at the helm, and many would have expected him to be an important figure last season as the club aimed for an immediate bounce back to the top-flight.

But he made just 13 appearances in all competitions throughout the campaign, with just two league starts as Joel Piroe, Patrick Bamford and Mateo Joseph were largely preferred by the German.

This season has begun in a similar vein for the 22-year-old, with just two appearances in five games so far, after he started on the right wing in a 3-0 defeat to Middlesbrough in the EFL Cup, and then was brought on in added time in a 2-0 win at Sheffield Wednesday.

It has certainly not been the Leeds career that many thought Gelhardt would have after that goal against Norwich, and it has come as a surprise to see him stick around for this season with Piroe, Bamford and Joseph all still at the club.

Joe Gelhardt needed to leave Leeds United this summer to resurrect his career

Given his impressive showings in the Premier League with Leeds and out on loan at Sunderland, it will come as no shock that other clubs have previously been linked to Gelhardt's signature, but he has stayed in West Yorkshire and not strongly pursued an exit either on loan or permanently.

This time last year, TEAMtalk reported that Ipswich Town were among four clubs who made enquiries about possibly taking Gelhardt on loan for the season, but Leeds allegedly rebuffed the interest and ensured the England youth international that he was set to figure in Farke’s first-team plans for the campaign ahead.

He then made just six appearances before the January window opened, and so an exit was mooted with Plymouth Argyle, Rangers and Celtic reportedly among the clubs interested at that moment in time, but he again stayed and featured sparingly as the Whites just missed out on promotion through the play-offs.

Mateo Joseph's pre-season emergence to become Farke's main number nine for the new campaign has pushed the 22-year-old even further down the pecking order in the last few months, but at his age he needs to be playing regular first-team football, which seems unlikely to come at Elland Road.

With his current contract due to run until 2027, a loan departure is what was needed for Gelhardt to really get his career back on track, but he will now have to wait until January at the earliest to get that opportunity, and so will surely rue not getting a move in the summer to go and truly prove himself for the whole campaign at another second-tier side.