What Hull City have said amid Joe Gelhardt's Leeds United admission

Several Leeds United players have experienced mixed fortunes during loan spells elsewhere during the opening three months of the season.

However, one player that has enjoyed an overwhelmingly positive start to his time away from Elland Road is forward Joe Gelhardt. The former Wigan Athletic academy product joined the Whites during the summer of 2020 and has gone on to make almost a half-century of senior appearances. However, the majority of his time with Leeds has been spent earning game-time elsewhere during loan spells with Sunderland and Hull City.

Gelhardt joined the latter during the second half of last season as he struggled to find a regular place in a Whites side that were producing a successful push for promotion into the Premier League and returned to the Tigers during the summer transfer window on a season-long loan deal.

As it stands ahead of Tuesday night’s home game with Ipswich Town, Gelhardt has scored eight goals and provided three assists in 17 appearances in all competitions so far this season - and Hull assistant manager Dean Holden has praised the impact the on-loan Whites star has made during his time with the Championship club.

He told BBC Sport: "He's a very versatile player and adds huge value. He's in good form in terms of his goalscoring at the moment - when he goes through on that angle on the right-hand side, there's only one outcome and he's putting the ball in the back of the net regularly. He's training well and champing at the bit."

What has Joe Gelhardt said about a possible return to Leeds United?

“I got asked this the other day. I haven’t heard anything from Leeds, to be fair, about a recall,” Gelhardt told Sky Sports’ Essential EFL podcast. “There might be a recall option, but I leave that up to my agent. I don’t really focus on that. I’m just focused on playing football. At the minute, I’m a Hull City player so I’m proud to wear the shirt whenever I put it on and I’ll continue to do that.”

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