In a parallel universe, Joe Gelhardt is starting this season’s inevitable loan spell away from Leeds United at Home Park rather than The Den. As the 22-year-old travels down to London with Hull City to face Millwall, he will have eyes on the first of 20 games which he hopes can reinvigorate a career that has stalled of late.
When Gelhardt first arrived at Thorp Arch, Leeds’ training ground, in 2020, a tag followed him from Wigan Athletic. If he was not quite being billed as the next Wayne Rooney, he was described as of that ilk. That was the one-liner being trotted out by some club staff keen to underline how much of a coup his signature was.
It was not a moniker Gelhardt asked for, nor one his inner circle encouraged, but once you saw him play, and even talk, you could understand it. The diminutive forward had the strength of a bulldozer, but could glide around a pitch, beating opponents for fun before finishing from any range. Last season, Daniel Farke said: “He could even kill a cow with a strike if he hits it perfectly.”
The Liverpool connection made the comparison stick and played a part in the pair almost linking up this season. Rooney spoke to Gelhardt more than once in the weeks leading up to his dismissal as Plymouth Argyle manager on New Year’s Eve. The relegation battlers were keen on giving Gelhardt an opportunity, but the ice under the 39-year-old was always too thin to bring that move to fruition.
Luton Town and Oxford United had shown an interest in Gelhardt before the window, but Hull were proactive and got the jump on their competitors. They are paying a healthy chunk of his wages, are close enough for him to commute from just outside Harrogate and already employ Charlie Hughes, one of Gelhardt’s friends from their Wigan days.
The assumption, at least outside Thorp Arch, was Patrick Bamford’s latest injury may scupper Gelhardt’s January switch. It was a move all sides knew would have to come during this window. The attacker has 10 minutes of league football to his name this season and been omitted from 15 of the last 17 matchday squads. Three league starts for Leeds since August 2022 paints an even bleaker picture.
Farke did not drag his heels on the move, even with Bamford’s issue. Despite the player’s lack of game time, there is not understood to be any bad blood between the pair. Gelhardt, according to the sources spoken to for this article, on condition of anonymity to protect relationships, has been a model professional throughout his time at Leeds. He has trained as hard as he can, but had to accept the misfortune of a pecking order blessed with the Championship’s best.
It remains to be seen what the future holds for Gelhardt at Elland Road. His contract does not expire until 2027, but with opportunities thin on the ground in the second tier, promotion seems unlikely to open more doors to him.
Gelhardt’s focus is on the here and now — he needs to play regularly and find some of that gold initially seen in Leeds colours.
His high point remains that late winner at home to Norwich City in March 2022. It was a goal which gave the entire city hope they could beat the drop that season. It combined a 5ft 9in (175cm) Gelhardt winning an aerial duel, the majesty of a Raphinha assist and a ferocious Elland Road explosion.
🤩 “Gelhardt is the hero!” pic.twitter.com/wh1RT4tjuu
— Leeds United (@LUFC) March 13, 2022
Jesse Marsch got a tune out of Gelhardt through that 2022 run-in, but it never really happened for him in the following campaign, as Rodrigo and Bamford led the ill-fated effort to stay up. Tony Mowbray and Sunderland offered him a way out in January 2023, but bad luck struck again. The day after Gelhardt signed, Ross Stewart, the striker he was expected to partner, suffered a season-ending Achilles injury.
“The burden was too big on him to be the centre forward at whatever age he was and he’s not 6ft 2in,” Mowbray, now head coach at West Bromwich Albion, tells The Athletic. “It’s easy for big centre-halves to bully him. He’s got potential and he’s got time.
“He’s got talent. Sometimes clubs like Leeds can’t wait, they’ve got to get promotion and he’s not ready to win games week-in, week-out for them, but for a team that’s trying to grow, develop, he’ll do a good job.”
Gelhardt scored three goals on loan at Sunderland two seasons ago (Michael Driver/MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Finding the right system seems to have been the hardest thing for Gelhardt. He undoubtedly has the talent to be a force in the game, but is on a hiding to nothing if played as a lone striker with nobody around him. Mowbray wanted him dropping deeper to link the play.
“He fitted in really well, he’s a lovely kid, very humble,” he said. “Maybe he could have forced himself on the team more, but he was so young. I’d tell him to drop and join in play like a midfielder, ‘you’re good at that, come and get the ball’.
“Gelhardt’s a good player. He’s not getting a game at Leeds, yet at his best he’s dynamic, powerful, he wants to score. When we beat Preston (North End) at Preston to get in the play-offs, he was good that day. Dropping deep, linking the play, running in.”
Gelhardt was a shrewd signing for Leeds. Half of the top flight wanted him, but they lured him to West Yorkshire. He flourished under Mark Jackson’s wing with the under-23s, but had to wait a year before Marcelo Bielsa gave him a chance. By then, the Argentinian’s chapter was in decline and Gelhardt, 19, arguably had too much put on his shoulders.
In a struggling team that began a long road towards relegation, Gelhardt was one of the disruptors and talents that could change a game or beat a man. He got chewed up and spat out by two messy years and now he needs stability to start again. He may yet get his second wind with Leeds.
(Top photo: Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images)
