Exclusive: Ipswich Town plot late move for Leeds star told to find new club

Leeds United forward Joe Gelhardt has been made available for a loan exit ahead of Friday’s (1 September) transfer deadline, sources have told Football Insider.

High-flying Ipswich Town are among several Championship sides ready to swoop for the 21-year-old.

Gelhardt has featured in all six of Leeds’ games so far this season but has been made available for a temporary move by manager Daniel Farke.

The Liverpool-born star has totalled 314 minutes of action in the 2023-24 campaign, scoring once in the League Cup win over Shrewsbury.

He spent last season out on loan at Sunderland while parent club Leeds were in the Premier League.

Gelhardt notched three goals and three assists in 20 appearances across all competitions as the Black Cats reached the playoffs.

In the meantime, Leeds were relegated from the Premier League – but none of their attacking options have left the club this summer.

Instead, Joel Piroe has arrived for big money from Swansea – pushing Gelhardt further down the pecking order.

Piroe started his first game against Ipswich on Saturday (26 August) and opened his Whites account within 20 minutes.

Gelhardt, who is under contract at Elland Road until June 2027, has managed three goals and seven assists in 47 senior games for Leeds.

He is not the only young forward set to leave the club temporarily, with Football Insider revealing on Wednesday (30 August) that Sam Greenwood is in advanced talks to join Middlesbrough on loan.

Leeds face Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday (26 August) having picked up five points from their opening four games.

 

 

Ipswich Town assistant manager Martyn Pert reflects on ‘lots of positives’ from Carabao Cup victory over Reading

Ipswich Town assistant manager Martyn Pert praised his side and said there were ‘a lot of positives’ to take from last nights Carabao Cup victory on penalties against Reading, which saw the Tractor Boys progress to the third round of the competition.

Having conceded in the first minute at the Select Car Leasing Stadium, as a result of a Brandon Williams own goal, the Blues showed no signs of a loss of confidence and equalised in first-half stoppage time through Cameron Humphreys.

After great work by Chelsea loanee Omari Hutchinson down the right wing, the ball was put on a plate for the 19-year-old to level proceedings just before the interval.

Pert, talking to Town TV, said: “On the bench I said because they’ve scored early, it would make it a game we had to push for and in the first half they were working so hard to block the middle of the pitch, so we had to go round the side and find a way of getting that goal.

“We kept pushing for all of the half and defended well enough once they had taken the lead, to bring the game to them.”

On going a goal behind, Pert said: “We had patience and confidence in the way we play and what we’re trying to do. We tried to stick to our principles of trying to hurt them but they weren’t giving us loads of opportunities in the middle of the pitch so we had to go down the sides through Brandon [Williams] and Omari [Hutchinson].

“It was then about trying to find out how to get the ball into the box and we got Jack Taylor, Marcus Harness and Cameron Humphreys to make diagonal runs to try and get us in, but once we got in they had numbers behind the ball and they defended their goal really well.

“We didn’t have a lot of chances in that first half but we kept pushing and got the goal and [at half-time] we told them keep going, keep using the width, keep trying to work the runs into the box and eventually the goal will come.”

The goal did come just before the hour mark, as Freddie Ladapo latched onto a superb defence-splitting pass from Lee Evans, and he calmly slotted the ball past Coniah Boyce-Clarke in the Reading goal to give Town the lead.

When asked about Ipswich’s second goal, Pert said: “It was a hell of a pass from Evo [Evans]. He looked over to me, obviously I think he was looking over to the side-line, and then he’s hit it right through the middle of the pitch.

“It was taken well by Freddy [Ladapo] who’s got time to look up and put it in the corner, it was a good finish wasn’t it?”

However, in the 87th minute, Reading took the game to penalties after a slip from George Edmundson sent substitute Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan through and he curled the ball into the bottom-right hand corner.

“It was disappointing conceding the goal but it’s about we showed resilience to come into the penalty shoot-out with a lot of positivity,” said Pert.

“I thought Slicks [Cieran Slicker] was really positive and exuberant on his line and he made a difference in the penalties.”

“It was important to win and to go through, that was the main thing, and we changed the whole team so it’s good that they got the minutes. There’s lots of positives from the night.”

A 3-1 win on penalties secured Town’s name in the hat for the next round and the draw will take place tonight on Sky Sports after Doncaster vs Everton.