Leeds United captain Liam Cooper has applauded young teammate Wilfried Gnonto after his latest performance at the Under-21 European Championships.
The Italian took to Instagram after Italy’s 3-2 win over Switzerland on Sunday.
Wilfried Gnonto was a substitute in Italy’s opening game against France last week.
He looked bright as Italy chased an equaliser after an unfortunate error from Tottenham defender Destiny Udogie.
Against Switzerland on Sunday, Gnonto was handed a start and repaid that faith very quickly.
After Lorenzo Pirola’s early goal, Gnonto doubled Italy’s lead after 11 minutes.
He saw a powerful header saved by Switzerland’s goalkeeper before bundling the ball home.
Italy had a three-goal advantage at half-time and despite Switzerland quickly scoring twice after the break, they held on to earn a vital three points.
Leeds captain Liam Cooper has reacted to Gnonto’s performance at the weekend.
He’ll be hoping the exciting forward is still at Elland Road when their Championship campaign starts at the beginning of August.
Leeds defender Cooper applauds Gnonto performance
Gnonto posted several photos of himself in action for Italy on Sunday without a caption.
Liam Cooper applauded his teammate’s performance, while Mateo Joseph said: “Very good.”
The £20,000-a-week attacker is understandably attracting interest after a successful first season in England.
Everton have been linked with a move for Gnonto, as have Juventus.
Gnonto looked like a signing for the future at Leeds when he initially arrived last summer.
However, as Leeds struggled in front of goal under Jesse Marsch without Rodrigo Moreno, Gnonto was given his chance.
He immediately added some excitement to Leeds’s attacks and was a nightmare for full-backs to deal with.
Gnonto perhaps didn’t contribute as many goals and assists as he would have liked.
However, it was still a surprise that his minutes were limited towards the end of the campaign when Leeds were fighting for survival.
Cooper will hope Gnonto is still at Leeds when they kick off their Championship campaign against Cardiff City at Elland Road.
A season playing regularly in the second tier might not be the worst thing for Gnonto and many of his young Leeds teammates.