Willy Gnonto and Crysencio Summerville say the same thing as Leeds United 'maestro' misses out on top award

Leeds United midfielder Ilia Gruev received plenty of love from teammates past and present after coming second on Bulgaria’s Best Footballer of the Year award.

The yearly awards ceremony took place on Monday evening to kick off the March international break, with Gruev missing out on the top award to national team captain Kiril Despodov. The 28-year-old is enjoying another excellent campaign at Greek outfit PAOK, with seven goals and nine assists across all competitions including European football.

Gruev missed a large portion of the current campaign after picking up a serious knee injury during October’s trip to Norwich City. The midfielder required surgery and was set for a lengthy spell out, albeit he returned much quicker than many anticipated, coming off the bench for minutes in January’s FA Cup win over Harrogate Town.

The 24-year-old has continued to prove one of manager Daniel Farke’s most consistent performers, often being relied upon to shore things up during difficult recent away trips. And for his efforts at domestic and international level, the midfielder was labelled his country’s second best player.

Gruev responds to Bulgarian award

In a post on Instagram, Gruev wrote: “Thank you for the award and congrats to my fellow nominees! We’ll see us again next year”. And the Leeds midfielder received plenty of congratulations from those who have played alongside him at Elland Road.

Winger Willy Gnonto labelled Gruev the ‘Bulgarian Maestro’ while his teammate Largie Ramazani wrote: “Maestroooooooo”. And that sentiment was echoed by former Whites favourite Crysencio Summerville, who left for West Ham United in a £28million deal over the summer. He simply wrote: “Maestro”.

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October free agent arrival Josuha Guilavogui also sent his congratulations, writing: “Bravo chef”, while also sharing a picture of Gruev holding his award on Instagram. While former Leeds loan winger Jaidon Anthony, who is now at Championship promotion rivals Burnley, posted two fire emojis for last season’s teammate.

Leeds’ international break outlook

Gruev, who missed out on international duty in October and November due to that knee injury, returned to the Bulgaria set up for this season’s final round of action. His side have a Nations League play-off double-header to come against Ireland, with the first leg on Thursday evening and the reverse in Dublin on Sunday.

As with a handful of other first-team players to jet off on international duty, Farke will be desperate Gruev can come through his two international fixtures without picking up an injury. It was this break last season that saw the Bulgarian and teammate Gnonto return from representing their countries with fitness issues, which halted the Whites’ promotion charge significantly.

Leeds return to action at home to Swansea City next weekend, the first of their final eight Championship games and a rare Saturday 3pm kick-off. Similarly to this time last year, Farke’s side will spend the March international break top of the Championship but are hoping for a big improvement on the previous campaign’s run-in.

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