Former Leeds United striker Noel Whelan has urged Marcelo Bielsa not to send Wigan Athletic forward Joe Gelhardt out on loan if they secure the signing as reported by Football Insider.
Whelan has likened the situation to that of Harvey Elliott at Liverpool and believes if Leeds do acquire Gelhardt then he could have more of an instant impact and would be better served not going out on loan.
Leeds have had a £1million offer plus add-ons accepted by the Latics and with personal terms having been agreed, the deal is expected to go through later this week.
Whelan gave his verdict on the Gelhardt transfer and said: “I would like to keep him at the club. It is important that he beds himself into this environment. He is at a new club with new surroundings and you need to get use to that as a player.”
BENEFIT
“He is young but that does not matter. We have seen it happen at Liverpool with Harvey Elliott. Sometimes it can benefit a youngster from being in and around the manager, players, staff and training ground rather than signing for a club and going straight out on loan.”
“We saw that with Jack Clarke and it has not worked out. I think it is nice to stay at the club you have just signed for, at least for the first 12 months,” Whelan continued.
“Leeds do not have an abundance of strikers so there might be game time for him next season depending on who we bring in.”
When most clubs bring in players of such a young age, a loan move does tend to be the next stage of their development but Whelan makes a good point in highlighting Leeds’ lack of strikers with Patrick Bamford their main option.
With this in mind, Gelhardt could find himself in and around the first-team picture and working under the stewardship of manager Marcelo Bielsa may be more beneficial than going on loan to a lower league club.
