Headlines may have been claimed by Mateusz Klich in a victorious Leeds United friendly which failed to inspire much in 90 minutes, but Jesse Marsch has shone a light on another department too. While the head coach accepted there was a lot more work to do in the two-plus weeks before Premier League football returns, he found some solace in the way the youngsters have performed and not only in Spain.
On the Friday before the team flew out to Valencia, they played behind closed doors against Preston North End. The Whites won the match and Marsch said youngsters like Mateo Joseph, Darko Gyabi, Sonny Perkins and Cody Drameh caught the eye as they did on the continent.
“We have work to do and getting some of our guys back and getting certain guys healthy,” he said after the Elche win. “That will be important, but a lot of the young guys are performing well and certainly the guys that came on in the second half.
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“That's two matches in a row where some of the young guys that came in second half performed at a really high level, so we feel like some of them are making some real progress, but yes we have we have still some work to do.”
There is no expectation the best of the under-21 crop are about to start matches for the first team, but Marsch will be delighted to see months of training alongside the senior group could feasibly bear fruit before the end of this campaign.
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