Nico Elvedi watched Saturday’s win at the City Ground in a tracksuit, an unused substitute three days into his Leeds United career. Four nights later he was back in Nottingham with the No.30 on his back, thrown into the middle of a rebuilt back three against Chris Wood, and he played the full 90 minutes of a 2-0 Carabao Cup win as if he had been at Thorp Arch for years. By full time, Daniel Farke was reaching for the word “outstanding”.
That is a considerable turnaround for a defender who, six days earlier, had not met most of his teammates. With Sebastiaan Bornauw on loan at Hamburg, Gabriel Gudmundsson nursing a muscular problem and only days left before the window shuts on 1 September, Leeds needed the £8.5m Swiss to settle quickly. On the evidence of Tuesday, he already has.
‘Nearly un-pressable’ — what Farke actually said about the Elvedi debut
Elvedi came in for Jaka Bijol as one of six changes, starting between Joe Rodon and Tarik Muharemović. Afterwards Farke, who managed him at Borussia Mönchengladbach, made no attempt to play the performance down, telling the Yorkshire Evening Post:
“We had probably a few candidates for man of the match today. Nico is definitely one of them because there was such a performance after just being with us for a few days is outstanding. Against a physical striker like [Chris] Wood who has scored so many goals over the last years, such a difficult away ground and not knowing really all his teammates — but also shows his quality and shows his experience.”
“I think he was excellent today with the ball, also calm and composed in possession, one of the reasons why we were nearly un-pressable today,” the Leeds boss added. “I’m very happy with him. But I didn’t expect anything else because I’ve worked with him and know his quality. And his CV speaks for himself. It’s a very good piece of business, and he will help us in the future.”
The man himself was rather more measured. “For my first game, it was okay,” Elvedi told BBC Radio Leeds, before telling the club’s official channels that the Whites deserved the win and that the night had been “fun”.
An 8/10 — and the one moment Chris Wood found him out
The YEP’s Kyle Newbould handed Elvedi 8/10, the highest mark of the night, describing a defender who “looked very assured from kick-off, not at all like someone making their debut”, with “plenty of good reading of play” and no little composure on the ball.
It was not flawless. Wood nutmegged him in the first half and was primed to finish before Rodon produced a goal-saving tackle — a reminder that the understanding in this back three is still only a few training sessions old. James Trafford, Rodon, Muharemović, Daniel James and captain Ethan Ampadu were all marked 7.
Farke’s selection headache is the good kind
Leeds went through courtesy of James’s finish six minutes into the second half and a Neco Williams own goal with around 15 minutes left, although the YEP noted that James Justin may yet fancy claiming the second as his own. It was a second win at the City Ground in four days — a ground where, as the Guardian noted, the Whites had not won since 1972 before Saturday.
Two competitive games, two clean sheets, two wins — and now four centre-halves in Rodon, Muharemović, Bijol and Elvedi with a genuine claim on three shirts. Farke has spent much of August talking about depth rather than starters, and a 29-year-old with 73 Switzerland caps who cost an initial £6.8m rising to £8.5m has just made that argument for him.
Six days before the deadline, the defender who was only in line for a debut on Tuesday morning looks like the least of Leeds’ worries. The tracksuit, you suspect, can go back in the kitbag.
