'Pick Willy Gnonto anyway' - Sam Allardyce and Karl Robinson on Leeds United's transfer battle with star striker

The Italy striker began the season in Daniel Farke's first XI but has not played since the opening weekend, telling the German he is "unavailable".

The club have reiterated they do not want to sell the player – and unlike the majority of those who have left this summer, there has been no release clause to force the issue – and went public to say they were treating the matter as an internal disciplinary issue.

Gnonto has since handed in a transfer request.

Farke said early on in the saga he was only interested in picking players "committed" to the club, and supporters at Elland Road on Friday made their feelings known with one banner saying "Play or Farke off" and another portraying Gnonto as a baby.

But Robinson, who was Sam Allardyce's assistant during the four-match caretaker stint to end last season, takes a different view.

“Even if he refuses to play I would just still pick him, then it’s down to him to perform how he needs to perform and if we lose because of his lack of effort then that’s his fault," he told his old boss on William Hill and Footy Accumulators’ No Tippy Tappy Football podcast.

“Footballers don’t have a very long career and they have to make decisions with regards to their own lives and their own careers, but in that moment you are signed to play for Leeds United and you have to play. If you don’t want to go out on the pitch and you let your fans down and let your team-mates down, that says a lot about you as a human being.”

Luis Sinisterra is another who has made himself unavailable for the last two games, in his case apparently citing a minor knee problem. It has left Leeds unable to fill their substitute's bench against Birmingham City and West Bromwich Albion, even with two goalkeepers on it.

Robinson is worried about the effect Gnonto is having on the rest of the squad.

“You can’t have that lingering over a team that has drawn two and lost one of their opening games, this needs to be sorted sooner rather than later, and it might have to be sorted aggressively," he said.

“None of us know to what extent Gnonto is refusing to play, or what conversations have taken place. He’s a full Italian international, and I think he has to play.

"He’s contracted to Leeds United, he signed that contract when he sat down with his agent, so he has to play. If he doesn’t play and Leeds fold and he leaves, what precedent does that set for the rest of the players?”

Allardyce, who relegated Gnonto to the bench for the final three matches despite the Italian having been Leeds' star performer in the mid-winter months, blamed his agent for the situation.

“I think his agent has told him to do that because in the short period of time that I was there I can’t believe that he would just refuse to play," he said. "I think his agent has told him that his best chance of getting a move away is by simply not turning up.

“His agent has to be 100 per cent certain that he’s got a club for him to go to because if he’s taking a chance on this approach without having a club lined up then it could ruin his career, not completely, but it could set him back so far that it will become very difficult for him.

“Agents are fine when they’re sorting your contract but they shouldn’t ruin your life and ruin what you’re doing at the football club because they are the ones that give you the contract and they want you to train and play. The only reason you turn around and refuse is if you’ve definitely got a club to go to.”

Unless Gnonto moves by 11pm on September 1, he will be unable to play for any other club for the remainder of 2023.