FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football - Premier League - Leeds United v Leicester City - Elland Road, Leeds, Britain - April 25, 2023 General view of a corner flag inside the stadium before the match REUTERS/Phil Noble/File Photo
Leeds United begin the new season on Saturday against Portsmouth and Mateo Joseph seems to have nailed down the starting spot at the tip of the attack
After sailing through his last examination, Mateo Joseph could not have done much more in pre-season to secure his full league debut on Saturday for Leeds United. The 20-year-old started the final pre-season friendly against Valencia and not only scored a superb goal, but impressed Daniel Farke with his all-round display.
The Spaniard’s trajectory has been relentless since his brace at Stamford Bridge in February. Joseph continued to look dangerous when he got on the pitch, but Farke was reluctant to start him in league games ahead of Joel Piroe or Patrick Bamford.
A cautious return from injury for Bamford has taken him out of contention this summer, leaving Piroe and Joseph to duke it out. The latter has caught the eye in every public friendly, scoring four goals to boot.
Starting Saturday’s pre-season finale, alongside what looked like United’s strongest current line-up, was the clearest sign yet Joseph should get the nod against Portsmouth. Farke set the youngster a series of challenges and he was highly impressed post-match.
“First of all, always the basics, that he works for the team, that he saves balls, keeps balls, makes good movement, spins the opponent’s last row, is more or less the first attacker against the ball and leads our pressing, also smart from his tactical movements,” he said.
“We always speak about triggers, when he should press, in which way he should press, how he should lead the game of the opponent. In these terms, he was brilliant and then if you are a striker, you also want to be involved in the end products, goals and assists.”
It’s been a transformative summer for Joseph, who appears to have convinced the manager he is ready to be that number nine he can count on. If he doesn’t start against Pompey, it won’t be because he didn’t nail this final test.
“He had a pretty impressive pre-season so far and he delivered today again with a really good performance,” said Farke. “Scored a fantastic goal, ice cold in front of the goal. It was also with his workload, pretty important for us and I’m pretty pleased with him.
“He found a good mix today between keeping the ball, but also stretching the opponent’s last row with running in behind and, yes, was definitely a good performance.”
