Leeds United under 23s reap rewards of the Premier League minutes played by young talent

A number of academy players who have made significant progress with the first team returned to the Under 23s and dazzled in a 4-0 victory over Crystal Palace on Monday night.

Crysencio Summerville, who has made five Premier League appearances for the first team this season, grabbed the headlines at Elland Road by bagging three goals as United stormed to a vital Premier League 2 Division One win.

Joe Gelhardt and Sam Greenwood both started after being involved under Jesse Marsch against Southampton on Saturday, while Charlie Cresswell - also with five top-flight performances under his belt - wore the armband.

Between them, the young talents have every right to feel a cut above the opponents they face up against in the PL2 for the 23s, but Taylor insists his players' experiences in the Premier League have done nothing to diminish their endeavour.

"My expectation is they come and have a Grade A attitude," Taylor said.

"Sometimes that’s not always easy if you’ve been with the first team, sometimes you maybe come back to the 23s and you can go ‘ah I’m a bit too good for this, I shouldn’t be here’ - we’ve never had that with any of our lads.

"You’ve seen there with that performance - Cry [Summerville], Cressy [Cresswell], Sam [Greenwood], obviously Joffy [Gelhardt] - they come, they play here, they work hard, they’re impressing the manager who’s here watching, they’re impressing us, they win the game - great attitude."

The young Whites' first-team minutes are not just improving players' individuals performances, but positively impacting the Under 23s dressing room, too.

"They give everything, and not only just out there that you see, but inside there as well - they’re characters there. Pitch personality - they’ve got it," Taylor said.

"We need everybody now to keep that because we’re not going to have all of them every week, we need the rest of the lads to go, 'yeah, alright, I’ll be that guy now and step out'.

"You’ve seen tonight that a lot of them do.

"They did it against Man Utd, they did it tonight, they did it against Liverpool, they just need to keep that continuity, that consistency going, they’ll be fine."

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