Leeds United striker reveals Daniel Farke surprise as England coach makes specific plea to clubs

Joseph has been limited to just two international appearances from the substitutes’ bench for England’s Under-20s this season after an ankle injury ruled him out of the first month of Leeds’ 2023/24 campaign.

The Spanish-born England youth international spoke exclusively to the YEP following the Young Lions’ last-minute Elite League defeat by Portugal at MK Dons’ stadium:mk on Wednesday evening, discussing his goals for the remainder of the season and observations working under Farke so far.

"Obviously it's a difficult task to get into the Leeds team. They obviously have a quality squad. They're playing really good now. But obviously [I'm] working hard, trying to get as many minutes as I can in a club like Leeds and just put my head down and work hard,” Joseph said.

The 19-year-old, who celebrates his 20th birthday this week, impressed Farke during pre-season and admits the German was ‘surprised’ by the quality of Leeds’ youngsters upon arriving at Thorp Arch in July.

"Daniel is a great coach from what I've seen. He's pushing the young players, he was surprised with all the young players in the pre-season.

"It's gonna be difficult because there are senior players with good performances this year. But it's trying to get in that team [doing] whatever is possible,” he added.

Joseph has made the first-team bench on two occasions so far this term, but has not yet made an appearance for the Whites. Nor has he turned out for Michael Skubala’s Under-21s who he skippered and finished top scorer for last season, despite England teammate Darko Gyabi and fellow fringe member Lewis Bate featuring extensively.

The teenager played 101 minutes during Leeds’ pre-season fixtures, just shy of Patrick Bamford’s 191 and Georginio Rutter’s 160, however the Frenchman’s blistering start this term, coupled with Joel Piroe’s signing, means Joseph’s path to regular senior football has been somewhat blocked. Nevertheless, Farke considers him to be one of his senior options, even if the opportunity hasn’t arisen yet.

England U20 boss Joe Edwards offered the YEP his thoughts on the difficulty his youngsters face when it comes to proving themselves at club level.

"I looked at the squad when we reported at the start of the camp and we definitely suffer for that a little bit where there's so many of them that are just playing bit parts for their club.”

This particular England age group were beaten 2-0 by Romania and fell to a 2-1 defeat against Portugal during this month’s international break, with Edwards – former assistant to Frank Lampard at Everton and Chelsea – describing his team as dominant, but lacking sharpness in the final third.

"You can see the boys in the Romania team and then tonight in the Portugal team, the boys [playing regularly for clubs] that are maybe a little bit sharper, particularly in the opening phases of the game.

"Hopefully boys can go back to clubs now and use, I think the positive experience we've still had this week, despite the fact we've lost two games, hopefully they can get in their teams, get some more minutes and come back and build on what was a decent performance,” Edwards added.