Leeds United: Youngster Ryan Edmondson impressing Whites boss

The youngster joined the ranks at Thorp Arch from York City in January for an undisclosed fee and has impressed for the under-18's in recent months, most notably notching a hat-trick against Burnley.

Edmondson has found his goal scoring touch since making the move from the National League North and Heckingbottom, who has been keeping an eye on his development, has even called him up to senior training on a number of occasions.

The Whites boss though revealed that he and his staff would need to manage his development but did concede he had been impressed with what he had seen so far.

"He's been scoring lots of goals," Heckingbottom told his pre-match press conference.

"We had him training with us a few weeks ago and used him in a game and he did really well.

"From my own point of view I think he has a great attitude. He behaves like a man in terms of his entuhiasm, what is expected and how vocal he is which is nice to see in young players because you don't often get that.

"That's a big standout feature for me and he's been doing well. We speak to Jacko [Mark Jackson] who has been working with him in the under-18's and he's made him captain for that purpose.

"Everyone speaks well of him. We have to make sure we're giving him all the right stimulus in terms of challenge and also the support to keep pushing him, because at 16 you're still a long way off being what you can be - he's in a good place at the minute."

When quizzed over whether it was completely out of the question that Whites fans could seen a glimpse of Edmondson in action at first-team level Heckingbottom simply replied: "No, he's on form.

"He's trained with us a few times and done well, played in a game and done very well. It's down to the player, the player will always determine whether they play or not and I say it to them all the time.

"You've got to force my hand and get in the team."