Sonny Perkins certainly knows how to make a strong first impression. The forward only arrived at Leeds United in July after turning down the opportunity to sign professional terms with West Ham United and he has already bagged himself six goals.
His form in Michael Skubala’s Under-21s side has certainly made people sit up and take notice on the 18-year-old’s progress. It was also enough to earn him a first call-up for England Under-19s this month as Simon Rusk’s outfit begin the defence of their European Championships crown with qualification.
Perkins is no stranger to the international set-up, having appeared at U15, U16 and U18 level before his latest call-up, but he took the promotion in his stride and marked his first appearance at that level with yet another goal. The Leeds man got the chance to start in Denmark against Montenegro, alongside his Whites teammate Darko Gyabi and after a goal from Liverpool’s Luke Chambers, Perkins put the result beyond doubt with an effort in the 76th minute of the contest to seal a 2-0 win.
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The forward will hope to be involved once more on Saturday when the Three Lions take on Georgia and he’ll also be in contention to face Denmark on Tuesday afternoon before boarding a plane back to West Yorkshire. His effort on Wednesday night builds on the excellent showings he has turned in during his first five Leeds outings and he’ll certainly be keen to kick on at Elland Road before the World Cup brings a halt to the action.
Given his form in the youth ranks, fans are understandably getting excited about what could be to come from the former Leyton Orient youngster and they’ll be watching his performances with interest over the coming months. Some have even made the suggestion that Perkins should be close to first-team involvement and you can guarantee that Jesse Marsch has been impressed with what he’s seen so far.
Perkins has been training with the senior team, alongside a host of other youngsters, and if he can continue to impress at Thorp Arch and on the field for the under-21s, he will certainly be hard to overlook over the coming months. He’s definitely doing all he can in order to make that step up and catch Marsch’s eye, too.
However, the campaign is still extremely young and the 18-year-old should be in no rush as he aims to follow in the footsteps of Joe Gelhardt and Sam Greenwood and make a home for himself in the United first-team. Perkins has seen first-team action before, in fact his Premier League debut for West Ham came off the bench against Leeds, last season.
He has also made a couple of appearances in the Europa League, with the Hammers using a dead rubber group stage game to give the youngster his first senior start. They were undoubtedly vital learning experiences for the Londoner and that taste of first-team action will be driving him on as he chases more opportunities.
Those chances will come at Leeds if he can stay on his current trajectory and Marsch has already shown he will hand out chances to those who are deserving of them. Leeds will also be keen not to overexpose the talent before he is ready, though, at the risk of damaging his impressive rate of progression.
The Whites took time with the likes of Gelhardt, who only made his bow for the club last season, despite making the switch to Elland Road from Wigan Athletic in 2020 and he has become a mainstay in Marsch’s plans. The 20-year-old is still behind the likes of Patrick Bamford and Rodrigo in the pecking order, but the time was right for him step up and he has been involved in all but one game this season.
Perkins has shown enough over the first two months of the season to suggest he is on a similar track at present and while he still has work to do, his opportunity will come when he's ready.
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