Last week saw 20 year old Leeds United striker Joe Gelhardt complete a loan move to EFL Championship side Sunderland, with the view that he can help the club make a push for the playoffs in the latter half of the 2022-23 season. In the latest developments, the young striker finds himself with a huge opportunity ahead of him at the Stadium of Light, merely days into his move.
Gelhardt completed his switch late last week, so is yet to make his debut for Sunderland. He missed out on the Black Cats’ FA Cup tie with Fulham as he is cup-tied from playing in the competition with Leeds in the Whites’ third round clash with Cardiff.
Sunderland travel to The Den to face Millwall in a Championship clash this weekend, and it now looks like Joffy could be on course to lead the line in the starting eleven.
As reported in the Yorkshire Evening Post, Sunderland have been dealt a massive injury blow as leading goalscorer Ross Stewart has been ruled out for the rest of the season with an achilles tear.
Stewart’s unfortunate injury is not as severe as first feared – which was expected to be a full tear which can take up to 18 months to recover. Its been confirmed that the 26 year old has suffered a partial tear, which thankfully will not take as long to recover but will see him miss the remainder of the current campaign.
This leaves Leeds loanee Gelhardt as the only out-and-out striker at the club, meaning we should expect to see him feature even more than we expected. Gelhardt has the chance to excel as he leads the Sunderland line, and this should be a boost to the striker’s development.
We’ll keep you up to speed with any news around Gelhardt, as well as the other Leeds loanees around the leagues.