Eddie Nketiah scored for the Leeds United u23s in a win over Millwall on Monday, leaving Arsenal fans wondering why he was with the youth team.
Nketiah came off the bench for the u23s at half-time on Monday, before scoring eleven minutes later to give his side a two-goal lead.
Leeds almost threw the win away with a poor defensive display in the final 15 minutes to make it 2-2, but they managed to find a late winner from a free-kick. Here’s the clip of Nketiah’s goal:
56' GOAL! Clarke threads a great pass through to Stevens who whips a ball across for Eddie Nketiah to tap it home! 2-0 pic.twitter.com/Qf2AoY6j48
— Leeds United (@LUFC) August 19, 2019
As for why Nketiah was with the u23s, it’s pretty simple. After starting in the League Cup in midweek, Nketiah dropped to the bench for Patrick Bamford a few days later against Wigan.
With Wigan going down to 10 men and Bamford scoring twice, Nketiah wasn’t needed on the day, so Bielsa decided to give him a few minutes with the u23s to keep him going.
This isn’t a policy exclusively reserved for Nketiah. Other senior stars like Helder Costa, 27-year-old Ezgjan Alioski and Tottenham Hotspur loanee Jack Clarke all started for Leeds u23s on Monday after missing the weekend’s match.
In fact, it’s encouraging that Nketiah was the only one of that group that wasn’t used from the start. The fact he only played 45 minutes and scored suggests he might be in line to feature in Leeds’ next game against Brentford on Wednesday.
If the striker is on the bench again, he’ll just have to be ready to come on and make an impact as he has in his two appearances so far.
Leeds are fighting for promotion in the Championship, so they aren’t going to make rash selection decisions. Nketiah will work his way in slowly, but should still benefit hugely across the course of the season.