Sonny Perkins still has to ‘iron out some details’ but Leeds United assistant head coach Rene Maric is excited about his potential. After starring for the club’s youth system this season, Perkins was drafted into the first-team starting XI on Wednesday night to make his Whites debut against Wolves at Molineux.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t mark his first senior outing for United with a Carabao Cup win, but the 18-year-old certainly made an impression with an eye-catching performance in the West Midlands. Perkins was one of Leeds’ most dangerous on the night, creating chances with his ball control and eye for a pass and he even had one or two chances to score, but he couldn’t find a way through Matija Sarkic.
He has been a hit at Leeds since his summer move from West Ham United, making an instant impact in the club’s U21s side and his goals have helped Michael Skubala’s outfit to the top of the Premier League 2 Division 2 table. The forward bagged eight goals in his first seven games for U21s in all competitions, including a decisive brace against Aston Villa.
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Jesse Marsch has been keeping a close eye on Perkins’ development this season, inviting him to train with the first-team on a full-time basis, and coaches will continue to monitor his progression as he pushes for more senior minutes.
“We are watching every single game with the U21s and I agree with you that in Sonny we have a player who is very young and extremely talented there,” Maric said when asked about the youngster after Wednesday’s defeat. “He's a type of player that is eye-catching because that mixture of physical posture and his ability on the ball is rare.
“He has to iron out some details. We're working on him because of these things also, too, because he's very young.
“Even if you don't see the way he plays you have still to bear in mind the way he's able to play for 90 minutes on the highest level and it's just about becoming consistent and working on these details. But just in terms of his talent, his abilities, potential, we're very happy with him and we have a lot of faith in his potential.”
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