Leeds United teen moves down from senior action with leadership expectation for home tournament
A Leeds United youngster will take senior training ground experience and the expectation of leadership into a home Under 19 Euro Championships.
Jayden Lienou has spent a significant amount of time around Premier League players since moving to Leeds from Manchester City last summer. The left-back is yet to make his senior debut for Daniel Farke but he did make the bench for a pair of Premier League fixtures in May. Lienou has trained with Farke's first team at Thorp Arch and impressed sufficiently at age group level with Wales that Craig Bellamy called him into the post-season national squad for friendlies against Ghana and Romania. Lienou remained on the bench for the Ghana game but was given high praise by Bellamy, who believes the youngster has what it takes to be part of the senior set-up.
But Lienou's next assignment before he can enjoy his summer comes back down at Under 19 level, with the Euro Championships. The finals are being held in Wales, which means home advantage for the Group A games against Spain, Denmark and Germany. Wales and Lienou kick off against Spain on June 28 at Wrexham's Racecourse Ground and take on Germany, then Denmark, at the same venue on July 1 and July 4 respectively.
Wales qualified as hosts and are making their Under 19 finals debut, managed by Chris Gunter. This cohort did previously qualify by right for the 2024 Under 17 EURO in Cyprus however. Gunter expects that Lienou and others who have been in and around the senior squad to lead their peers this summer.
"Any players that go and get the opportunity to go with the senior team and work with [Bellamy] makes my job easier because they come back even better," he said. "The messaging that we're trying to give them when they go and see it and feel it for themselves up up with the seniors is really good. There's a couple that have been been around it and they should be coming back now into this age group and thinking they want to bring everything they've learned. They've been around the the senior boys and see how they behave and [they're] bringing it back to their experiences with this group. I expect the ones who were away to be coming back with a real spring in their step and they can sort of lead and show the the younger ones of our squad what it feels like when they move up."
The eight-team tournament will also act as a UEFA qualifier for the 2027 FIFA Under 20 World Cup in Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan.
Beyond his Wales involvement, Lienou will be looking forward to a break and then hoping to earn a spot on the plane to America for the Leeds first team training camp and friendlies against Wrexham, Sunderland and Liverpool.