Towards the end of last year, the Spanish sports media were falling over themselves to praise Leeds United’s Mateo Joseph. He’d swapped the England national team pathway and instead decided to represent Spain, taking part with their ultra successful U21s team.
Joseph impressed and started to find the back of the net, and there was even talk of him being rushed through towards the first team squad ahead of the World Cup.
Things changed a little and at club level the 21-year-old hasn’t been getting the prominence he’d expected by now. That’s slowed his progress down somewhat, but he’s still part of Spain’s U21 set up ahead of the upcoming Euros.
Ahead of Spain’s match against Slovakia on Wednesday, Jospeh has been speaking to Spanish newspaper El Mundo and touched upon his difficulties at Leeds United.
El Mundo quote the youngster as saying: “There was a change, the other striker started to play, and you know that in the end, this comes in waves. I’m also in favour of him continuing to play.
“I started playing quite a bit and then went from everything to nothing. It was a blow, and that was coming off the back of last year, which was also very tough.
“It’s important to invest in yourself to get the best out of yourself, and I try to rely on all the tools available to us.”
Usually at this point of an interview, a footballer would then question their future and potentially talk about a move to Spain, but Mateo Jospeh didn’t. He has a contract at Leeds United lasting until June 2028 and likely wants to give himself the opportunity to shine in the Premier League.
