Georginio Rutter provided a glimpse of what he could offer Sam Allardyce’s Leeds United in the battle for survival on Monday night after dropping down to feature for the Under-21s. The record signing was named in the young Whites’ starting line-up at Elland Road and helped them progress to the Premier League 2 Division 2 play-off final with a 2-1 win over Aston Villa.
Mateo Joseph and Sonny Perkins, who have been in fine goal scoring form all season, grabbed the goals for United to set up the final against Nottingham Forest. However, Rutter played his part in front of almost 4,000 supporters and Allardyce was in attendance.
Rutter has thoroughly underwhelmed since making the £35 million move to Leeds from Hoffenheim in January and his game time has been severely restricted as a result. He has made 10 Premier League appearances but just one has been a start and he has been left unused in six of United’s last nine league games.
Read more: Leeds United U21s player ratings as McGurk and Rutter impress in play-off semi-final win
As such, he needed to perform well with the U21s to give the new head coach some food for thought and he did exactly that, leading the Whites attack well for 71 minutes before being replaced by Charlie Crew. Despite Leeds falling behind early in the semi-final on home soil, Rutter carried a threat from the off on home soil, looking to move the ball forward quickly with the ball at his feet.
His pace gave the young Villa backline something to think about on a regular basis and while it wasn’t a night to remember for him in front of goal, it was his effort that eventually led to the opener. Dropping a shoulder and beating his man, the youngster saw his effort from a tight angle turned away for a corner by the Villa keeper and Mateo Joseph did the rest from the resulting corner kick.
With the Whites sitting back in a controlled manner and containing the relative threat of Villa for much of the second half, Rutter was made to work harder to get involved, dropping back, getting stuck in and taking a couple of knocks along the way. Allardyce will have almost certainly taken note and while it seems highly unlikely that he’ll be thrust into the starting line-up on Saturday against Newcastle United at Elland Road, Rutter might just appeal when the head coach finds himself looking for an option off the bench.
In regards to Paco Gallardo’s U21s, they are potentially just 90 minutes away from promotion. Details of the play-off final are yet to be finalised and confirmed but Forest will be the opponents and given Leeds are the highest ranked side remaining in the competition, they will host the contest.
They may have missed out on automatic promotion but their hopes of playing top flight football next season are well and truly alive.
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