Can Mateo Joseph challenge for a first team spot at Leeds United?

A positive attitude towards getting into the starting XI, is it just a matter of when?

Transcript

00:00 Another young player, just looking down the pecking order in terms of age, Matteo Joseph

00:06 has evidently strengthened up. Can he challenge for a first team spot or how long do you think

00:12 it could be until we see him challenging around that first team?

00:16 Well, I think it's going to be interesting to see that one and it might be a bit quicker

00:20 than people think. I certainly hope so and I certainly hope he's given a chance. It's

00:25 hard to work out where he is in the pecking order as such because in order to do that,

00:29 you have to think about what positions and roles players play. With him, I think he's

00:34 looking very much like a number nine. I went to the under-21s game against Liverpool at

00:39 York at the LNER Community Stadium, the 2-2 draw, and that's the first time I've seen

00:44 him in the flesh for quite a while in a 21s game. To me, it was obvious how much he'd

00:48 sort of strengthened up. He just looked stockier and just a bit more of a unit really. With

00:53 that, he'll become a better player. I spoke to Michael Skibala afterwards about it and

00:57 he said basically that's very true, but it's not an overnight process. It's something he's

01:00 been working on for the past year. He looks ready to go to me. I mean, not in terms of

01:04 starting for the first team or anything like that, but he looks ready to go in terms of

01:07 sticking him on the bench. I absolutely think so and probably give him a few more games

01:10 in the 21s, hopefully get a few more goals, a bit more confidence and then, yeah, why

01:14 not get him on the bench? He's a very, very talented young player. I mean, there's talk

01:17 of massive clubs having looked at him already and I'm not surprised because he does have

01:22 an awful lot of potential. He's still very raw, obviously, but there's no doubt he's

01:25 a good player. I suppose the big thing with him is that maybe it's almost like a case

01:29 of him or Bamford, because they do feel like similar-ish sort of players in terms of number

01:33 nines who can both hold the ball up and there's no doubt that Rutaire and Pirro are leads

01:37 as front two at the moment and will remain so. So could you have a situation where you

01:41 have Bamford and Joseph both on the bench? I suppose that's the sort of thing you have

01:44 to look at, but sooner or later I expect him to pop up on the bench. Daniel Farker was

01:49 full of praise for him pre-season. It's quite obvious how much he rates him. He obviously

01:53 had that ankle injury which then set him back. But yes, he looks very much back in business

01:58 now. He looks in great shape, like I say. A very, very good young player. Age on his

02:02 side at 20. I expect and moreover hope that he gets on the bench soon and that he starts

02:07 to show what he can do because I think they've got a very, very good young player on the

02:10 hand, sir.