Leeds United fans may be starting to experience a little bit of anxiety as the noise around Wilfried Gnonto grows. Gnonto has only been at Elland Road since September 2, but his name is already starting to feature in transfer gossip columns across the continent.
Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City are the latest clubs said to be keeping tabs on him, as per Gazzetta Dello Sport, while some of Serie A’s elite outfits have been credited with interest in taking him back to his homeland, too. The talk shouldn’t come as a surprise to United supporters, who have seen him step into the side, establish himself and become one of the Premier League’s brightest young talents over the last few months.
The 19-year-old has bagged four goals since the turn of the year, with efforts coming against West Ham United and Manchester United in the Premier League, either side of his spectacular brace against Cardiff City in the FA Cup. His performances on the left have given Leeds an attacking outlet that they have been forced to rely upon at times this year and while he hasn’t featured quite as much under Javi Gracia so far, he will undoubtedly play a key role if the Whites are to avoid slipping out of the Premier League this season.
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The Italy international was always going to appear on the radars of bigger, richer clubs and his lively cameo off the bench against England on Thursday night will have done little to quell the speculation, either. However, fans can take a degree of comfort from the decisions he has already made in his fledgling career.
As a schoolboy, it seemed Gnonto’s destiny was mapped out for him. He was one of the brightest in the Inter Milan youth system and an Italian youth international, who was working his way up the ranks.
But, at the age of just 16, he made the brave and bold call to leave the Serie A giants behind and move to Zurich in pursuit of first-team football. It was unprecedented but the jump across the Alps underlined the huge amounts of maturity and confidence in his own ability he possesses, turning his back on the glamour of being associated with a Champions League club to find game time elsewhere.
It was a risk and had he failed to get a foot in the door at Zurich his journey could have been very different, but he didn’t. Gnonto managed to force his way into the Swiss Super League outfit's line-up and two years later, he was a full Italian international boarding a plane to West Yorkshire to test himself again.
“I want a team, whatever it is, that will give me time to grow, make mistakes and improve, as a player and as a man. If I have this time, I’m sure I’ll be able to emerge,” he was quoted as saying a couple of weeks before his switch to the Premier League and emerge he has done.
All eyes will now be on his next move if the current transfer talk is to evolve into concrete, unequivocal interest from Europe’s elite outfits over the summer. But, his decision as a 16-year-old suggests he’s capable of resisting the lure of such clubs if the move doesn’t tick all the boxes for him.
The move to Leeds was the right one for him at the time. He had to be patient at first, but he’s successfully made the leap up to the Premier League and he’s learning with every minute of game time he gets in a white shirt.
He's shown maturity beyond his years so far and he might just see Elland Road as the perfect place to continue his growth and development.
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