Leeds United head coach Daniel Farke has offered opportunities to academy players throughout the season and two players have grasped their chance to impress.
Archie Gray and Mateo Joseph have both emerged as regulars in the first-team, whether that is as a starter or coming off the bench week-in-week-out, after coming through the youth team set-up.
Joseph is yet to start a game in the Championship, with 18 appearances as a substitute, but did score two goals against Chelsea as a starter in the FA Cup earlier this year.
The Spain U21 international is already part of the striker rotation but Farke may have another talented young marksman who could emerge as a first-team option as an heir to Patrick Bamford's position in the squad in U21 star Luca Thomas.
Patrick Bamford's struggles this season
The former England international has not been at his clinical best in front of goal in the Championship so far this season for Leeds, as he has not made the most of the chances that have been created for him.
Bamford has scored seven goals from an xG (Expected Goals) of 10.2, which essentially means that an average level of finishing would result in ten goals scored.
Only Georginio Rutter, who has scored six goals from 14.38 xG, has underperformed his expected tally by more than the former Chelsea marksman.
Appearances
32
Goals
7
Minutes per goal
204
Assists
1
Key passes per game
0.4
Duel success rate
40%
As you can see in the table above, the English attacker has also failed to provide much quality as a creator of goals, to go along with his wasteful finishing.
Farke could now start to think about what life will look like after the 30-year-old, and U21 starlet Thomas could emerge as an option to replace him in the future.
Luca Thomas' goalscoring record for Leeds
The 19-year-old marksman, who can play out wide or through the middle as a centre-forward, boasts an impressive record at U21 and U18 level for the club.
Thomas racked up an eye-catching 23 goals and three assists in 32 U18 matches for Leeds, including 15 goals in 17 outings during the 2021/22 U18 Premier League season.
After a slow start to life with the U21s, failing to score or assist in seven appearances last season, the teenage whiz has plundered four goals and four assists in 15 Premier League 2 games this term.
This means that the academy star, who U21 commentator Thomas Hill hailed for his "class" display against Brighton earlier this season, has scored 27 goals and provided seven assists in 54 games for the U18s and U21s combined, in 3,902 minutes in total.
That is an average of one goal every 144 minutes of action, along with his assists on top of that, across the last three seasons combined, which speaks to his lethal nature in front of goal.
These statistics suggest that the potential is there for him to be the long-term heir to Bamford, who has averaged 204 minutes per goal in the Championship this season, if he can make the step up to the first-team.
Farke could then have two fantastic young centre-forward options in Thomas and Joseph, who scored 19 goals in 33 games at U21 level, to lead the team in the future.
They are both, based on their respective goalscoring records, impressive striker prospects who could both develop into regular first-team performers for Leeds if all goes well, with Thomas possibly replacing Bamford in the long run.
