Leeds United sign a striker but Willy Gnonto has been bought for the future, not the present - Yorkshire Post 2/9/22

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Leeds United were able to sign a striker on deadline day – or five minutes after it – but Willy Gnonto was not the senior man they were looking for.

By stuart rayner

A deal sheet allowed the transfer to go through at 12.05am on Friday, and although the fee is undisclosed, it is thought to be in the region of £4m.The Whites' interest in the Zurich forward has been known for some time and Jesse Marsch talked about it last month, but said the 18-year-old “wouldn't be Premier League ready”.

While the focus was on signing a senior centre-forward, that deal has been pushed through, with the Inter Milan product signing a five-year contract at Elland Road.

Gnonto is already a full Italian international, having made his debut against Germany in the Nations League this summer, and became the Azzuri’s youngster goalscorer when he needed in the reserves fixture.

Leeds had bigger plans for September 1, with attempts to sign PSV Eindhoven's Cody Gakpo, Wolverhampton Wanderers' Hwan Hee-chan, Marseille's Bambo Dieng and a reported late enquiry for Blackburn Rovers' Ben Brereton Diaz all failing.

But as well as improving their first team, director of football Victor Orta has been spending the last two years running a parallel transfer policy which has stocked the club's under-23s - now under-21s - team with promising talent. The likes of Joe Gelhardt, Sam Greenwood, Leo Fuhr Hjelde, Lewis Bate, Cody Drameh, Charlie Allen and Darko Gyabi have all been bought over the last two years.

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