Wilfried Gnonto

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Wilfried Gnonto
Gnonto with Leeds United in 2023
Personal information
Full name Degnand Wilfried Gnonto
Date of birth (2003-11-05) 5 November 2003 (age 20)
Place of birth Verbania, Italy
Height 1.72m (5 ft 7 in)
Position(s) Winger
Team information
Current team
 Leeds United
Number 29
Youth career
2008–2010 Baveno
2010–2012 Suno
2012–2020 Inter Milan
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2020–2021 Zürich II 3 (2)
2020–2022 Zürich 65 (9)
2022– Leeds United 58 (10)
International career‡
2018–2019 Italy U16 10 (1)
2019–2020 Italy U17 10 (5)
2021 Italy U18 1 (0)
2021–2022 Italy U19 10 (5)
2023– Italy U21 7 (5)
2022– Italy 13 (1)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 17:45, 17 March 2024 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 26 March 2024

Degnand Wilfried Gnonto (Italian pronunciation: [ˈɲonto]; born 5 November 2003) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a winger for EFL Championship club Leeds United and the Italy national team.

Early life[edit]

Gnonto was born in Verbania, Italy, in 2003 to Ivorian parents and he grew up in Baveno, where he attended a liceo classico before switching to pursue secondary education at a liceo scientifico.[1][2]

Club career[edit]

FC Zürich[edit]

A youth product of Inter Milan since the age of nine, Gnonto joined Swiss club Zürich on 23 April 2020.[3] Gnonto made his professional debut with Zürich as a substitute in a 4–1 away Swiss Super League win over FC Vaduz on 24 October 2020, and assisted his team's final goal.[4] He scored his first professional goal on 21 May 2021, once again in a 4–1 league home win over FC Vaduz, after replacing Antonio Marchesano in the second half.[5]

In his second season, he won the 2021–22 Swiss Super League title with the club, with four games remaining.[6]

Leeds United[edit]

On 2 September 2022, Gnonto joined Leeds United on a five-year deal for an undisclosed fee.[7] He made his Premier League debut on 29 October, in Leeds’ 2–1 win against Liverpool at Anfield, coming on as a 72nd-minute substitute for Jack Harrison and opening the action that led to the winning goal by Crysencio Summerville.[8] On 5 November, he again replaced Harrison in the second half of the league match against Bournemouth, eventually assisting Summerville for his second consecutive winning goal.[9]

On 4 January 2023, Gnonto scored his first Premier League goal for Leeds, a 28th minute opener in a 2–2 home draw against West Ham United.[10] Two weeks later he scored a brace for Leeds in an FA Cup third round replay against Cardiff City at Elland Road, a volley within the first minute and a goal scored in the 36th minute in a 5–2 win.[11]

On 8 February 2023, he scored less than a minute into Leeds' 2–2 draw with Manchester United, following a pass from Patrick Bamford.[12] In doing so, he became the youngest overseas player to score at Old Trafford in a Premier League fixture.[13]

In August 2023, Gnonto refused to play for Leeds in an attempt to force a transfer away from the club, following Leeds' relegation to the EFL Championship at the end of the 2022-23 season:[14] he then returned to training and officially apologized to manager Daniel Farke at the end of the month.[15] On 26 August, in his first game since his return, Gnonto scored a goal in a 4–3 away league win over Ipswich Town.[16]

In the 2023–24 season, Gnonto, an almost-constant regular on the right wing in Farke’s starting XI, had a run of form that saw him net seven goals from February to mid-March.[17][18]

International career[edit]

Gnonto represented Italy at under-17 level in the 2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup.

In May 2022, after being called by Roberto Mancini to join a training camp for the Italy national team, Gnonto was included in the final 30-player Azzurri squad for the 2022 Finalissima.[19][20] On 4 June 2022, Gnonto made his senior debut for Italy in a UEFA Nations League game against Germany, coming on as a substitute and providing an assist in a 1–1 home draw.[21] On 14 June, in Italy's fourth group match, he scored his first international goal in a 5–2 away loss to Germany, to become the youngest goalscorer for Italy, aged 18 years and 222 days, breaking the previous record held by Bruno Nicolè since 1958.[22]

Career statistics[edit]

Club[edit]

As of match played 17 March 2024[23]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National cup[a] League cup[b] Europe Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Zürich II 2020–21 Swiss Promotion League 3 2 — — — 2[c] 1 5 3
Zürich 2020–21 Swiss Super League 26 1 0 0 — — — 26 1
2021–22 Swiss Super League 33 8 3 2 — — — 36 10
2022–23 Swiss Super League 6 0 1 0 — 5[d] 1 — 12 1
Total 65 9 4 2 — 5 1 — 74 12
Leeds United U21 2022–23 — — — — 2[e] 0 2 0
Leeds United 2022–23 Premier League 24 2 3 2 1 0 — — 28 4
2023–24 Championship 30 7 4 1 1 0 — — 35 8
Total 54 9 7 3 2 0 — — 65 12
Career total 122 20 11 5 2 0 5 1 4 1 144 27
  1. ^ Includes Swiss Cup, FA Cup
  2. ^ Includes EFL Cup
  3. ^ Appearances in Swiss Promotion League relegation play-offs
  4. ^ Two appearances in UEFA Champions League, three appearances and one goal in UEFA Europa League
  5. ^ Appearances in EFL Trophy

International[edit]

As of match played 12 September 2023[24]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team Year Apps Goals
Italy 2022 8 1
2023 5 0
Total 13 1
Italy score listed first, score column indicates score after each Gnonto goal.[24]
List of international goals scored by Wilfried Gnonto
No. Date Venue Cap Opponent Score Result Competition
1 14 June 2022 Borussia-Park, Mönchengladbach, Germany 4  Germany 1–5 2–5 2022–23 UEFA Nations League A

Honours[edit]

Zürich[23]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Russo, Gabriele (5 June 2022). "L'Italia si innamora di Gnonto. E' di Baveno la nuova promessa azzurra". RaiNews (in Italian). Retrieved 19 June 2022.
  2. ^ Tomaselli, Paolo (6 June 2022). "Il papà di Gnonto: "Libri e oratorio, non ha né fidanzata né patente: vi racconto Willy"". Corriere della Sera (in Italian). Retrieved 19 June 2022.
  3. ^ "Der Stadtclub verpflichtet Nachwuchs-Stürmer Wilfried Gnonto". FC Zürich. Archived from the original on 2022-05-31. Retrieved 2020-10-24.
  4. ^ "Vaduz vs. Zürich - 24 October 2020 - Soccerway". uk.soccerway.com.
  5. ^ "Der FCZ gewinnt gegen den FC Vaduz mit 4:1" (in German). FC Zürich. 21 May 2021. Archived from the original on 14 June 2022. Retrieved 19 June 2022.
  6. ^ "FC Zurich beats FC Basel 2-0 and is crowned Swiss champion". FC Zürich. 1 May 2022. Archived from the original on 12 August 2022. Retrieved 19 June 2022.
  7. ^ "Leeds United complete deadline day deal for Wilfried Gnonto". Leeds United. 2 September 2022.
  8. ^ Rose, Gary (29 October 2022). "Liverpool 1–2 Leeds United". BBC Sport. Retrieved 30 October 2022.
  9. ^ Johnston, Neil (2022-11-05). "Leeds United 4–3 Bournemouth". BBC Sport. Retrieved 2022-11-06.
  10. ^ Stone, Simon (4 January 2023). "Leeds 2-2 West Ham: Hammers remain in relegation trouble after Elland Road draw". BBC Sport. Retrieved 4 January 2023.
  11. ^ Taylor, Louise (18 January 2023). "Gnonto and Bamford double up as Leeds overwhelm Cardiff in FA Cup". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 January 2023.
  12. ^ "Sancho earns Man Utd point in thrilling Leeds draw". BBC Sport. 8 February 2023. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
  13. ^ "'Superb' Leeds ace Gnonto broke a Premier League record vs Manchester United". HITC. 9 February 2023.
  14. ^ Hafez, Shamoon (18 August 2023). "Leeds forward Gnonto submits transfer request". BBC Sport. Retrieved 28 August 2023.
  15. ^ "Farke gives apologetic Gnonto second chance at Leeds". BBC Sport. 24 August 2023. Retrieved 28 August 2023.
  16. ^ "Leeds end Ipswich's perfect start with first win". BBC Sport. 26 August 2023. Retrieved 28 August 2023.
  17. ^ Freeman, Jay (17 March 2024). "Leeds 2-0 Millwall: Wilfried Gnonto and Dan James goals put Leeds top". BBC Sport. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
  18. ^ Lloyd, Matt (13 February 2024). "Swansea 0-4 Leeds: Visitors stroll to seventh successive win". BBC Sport. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
  19. ^ "Diramata dal Ct Mancini la lista dei calciatori per la 'Finalissima'" (in Italian). FIGC.it. 30 May 2022. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
  20. ^ "Wilfried Gnonto, chi è la nuova scommessa di Roberto Mancini" (in Italian). La Repubblica. 31 May 2022. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
  21. ^ "Italia-Germania 1-1: Kimmich risponde a Pellegrini, esordio con assist per Gnonto" (in Italian). La Repubblica. 4 June 2022. Retrieved 5 June 2022.
  22. ^ "Five-star Germany crush Italy to snap winless run". Reuters. 14 June 2022.
  23. ^ a b Wilfried Gnonto at Soccerway. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
  24. ^ a b "Gnonto, Wilfried" (in Italian). FIGC. Retrieved 14 June 2022.

External links[edit]

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wilfried_Gnonto&oldid=1220304304"