Leeds United: Willy Gnonto’s time to shine at Leeds
Leeds United: Willy Gnonto’s time to shine at Leeds
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00:00One of those players is of course Willy Nanto, who we've also earmarked as one of those ones who could have gone this summer, he still remains at the club.
00:10Perhaps not the figure that Somerville was last season, given the fact that he had Dan James competing for his side of the team a lot of the time, whereas Somerville was sort of always nailed down on the other flank.
00:22So it perhaps wouldn't be as big a blow, but now that Somerville has gone, you think losing him as well would not be good at all.
00:32So where do we stand on Willy Nanto? Obviously, now that Somerville's gone, is it a case of he is more likely to stay, or do you think it's a chance that he could go?
00:46Yes, I honestly think you can look at it both ways with this. One way you can look at this is, Crisensio Somerville's now gone, so obviously there's a gaping big hole on the wing, and Nanto now becomes one of the first choice starters out wide.
01:01You're probably talking Nanto on one side and Dan James on the other at the moment, as things stand. That wasn't the case last season. Obviously, transfer request at the start of last season looked like he'd go.
01:11It reintegrated back into the squad, so it's far from straightforward, but all that has to be taken into consideration. Only 22 starts in the league last season for Nanto, and we have a 17 from the bench.
01:22Put simply, if he stays put over the summer into next season, then he'll probably start almost every game. You would have thought, I don't see why not, if all things go well.
01:31The first thing you can say is this presents a massive opportunity for him, if that's the way it goes. The other way you can obviously look at it is that it's no secret how close those two were. They were as thick as thieves. They were always together. You'd like it arriving at every game.
01:43You almost felt a little bit for Nanto when the team arrived for the game against Valencia. He was there at the end and he wasn't with his little mate. On the pitch, he was walking around looking a bit forlorn.
01:53You don't know. It's hard to read into things too much. Was he also walking around the pitch thinking, this is my chance to shine, to really step up to the plate? It definitely can be viewed in that way.
02:03There's two ways of looking at it, really. From a Leeds United perspective, it's definitely, I don't know about essential, but I think it's very, very important now that they keep Nanto.
02:12If you lose Somerville and Nanto, then obviously you're two very, very good wingers down. Then all of a sudden, if you're not bringing anybody in, you are starting to look a little bit light.
02:21They are obviously looking to replace Somerville, but you don't want to be looking to replace Somerville and Nanto.
02:25Then it starts getting into a bit of a scramble with just three weeks of the window left and potentially less if Nanto happens to move on even later than that.
02:33Obviously, Everton's interest in him has been well documented for some time, but the bottom line there is that if Everton want to sign him, they'll have to put up a decent offer.
02:43Basically, the one that Leeds would have to then choose whether to accept or not, assuming there's no clauses or anything like that.
02:52They've just got a long contract at Leeds as well. The vibe from Leeds was that basically they didn't need to sell after the Archie Gray sale, even before Somerville.
03:01Now Somerville's gone and obviously upwards of 25 million received for that, then surely that means that it's even less likely that they would sell Nanto.
03:10If you were summarising, I think the only way Nanto goes is if a very, very big offer comes in for him, which is too good to turn down, or the player gets unhappy and hands in a transfer request again and says he wants to go.
03:24It doesn't seem any sign of that really. As I say, it'll be good that Somerville's gone obviously, but everybody is.
03:30Once the game got going and stuff in the friendly against Valencia, he was very heavily involved, very sprightly, definitely looked up for it.
03:38Full of pace, full of tricks and stuff, central figure and stuff in terms of the action and a very, very talented player.
03:44People forget obviously he's still only 20 years old, Willy Nanto, so he could be anything in terms of another couple of seasons under his belt.
03:52At the moment, anyway, he feels key. As I say, if he does stick around, then I'm sure he's a first-choice starter.
03:58It could be an absolutely huge season for him. I don't know about saying, can Nanto be this season's Somerville?
04:05That's the way you look at it, I suppose, and as one person moves on, it provides an opportunity for somebody else.
04:10It's interesting to see now how it goes with the wingers. As I say, Nanto and James look like the first-choice pairing.
04:16Obviously, Aronson can play there, Routier can play there and obviously Leeds will be looking to bring in another one to replace Somerville,
04:22which is what you need, though. You need options. You don't just need two starters and that's it.
04:26You need people fighting for competition, but it's quite clear that Nanto now is a massive chance for him.
04:32Personally speaking, obviously massively hope he stays and that he really takes off next season because he's definitely got it in his locker to do that.
04:39Yeah, exactly. After the sourness of the transfer request that he put in, he has reintegrated himself back into Leeds United as a club.
04:48Obviously, he did have a good year last year, perhaps not hitting the heights of what Somerville did,
04:54but he, as you say quite rightly, has got his chance to shine now without the elephant in the room.
05:04That makes it sound as if Somerville was a bad thing, but he's not got the comparisons from one flank to the other.
05:09He can go and shine on his own. Obviously, Leeds will have to replace Somerville, but realistically,
05:14Willy Nanto is now probably the biggest attacking star at Leeds at the moment,
05:19so it's a big season for him if he is to stay at El Andro.