sport news England beware Leeds' Italian wonderkid... Willy Gnonto, 18, is Italy's ... trends now
When Italy flopped in the play-offs against North Macedonia and were condemned to miss their second World Cup finals in a row, Roberto Mancini promised to rebuild his team with the next generation of talent.
His search led him to Willy Gnonto, an explosive teenage striker from Inter Milan's youth ranks who helped FC Zurich win the Swiss title last season and joined Leeds United on transfer deadline day earlier this month.
Gnonto's £3.8million move to Elland Road was largely unheralded, eclipsed at the time by the furore of their failed £20m swoop for Bamba Dieng of Marseille and since by the postponements following the death of Queen Elizabeth II and the subsequent period of mourning.
Willy Gnonto is an exciting young forward that could play for Italy against England tomorrow
Italy manager Roberto Mancini has promised to rebuild his side and focus it around youth
Yet he is an exciting signing — a diminutive player of 5ft 5in with supreme balance and electric speed, likened to a young Raheem Sterling, who can play either side of a centre forward or as a second striker — and Leeds fans could get a glimpse of him when England face Italy in Milan tomorrow.
Mancini promoted Gnonto to Italy's senior squad for the Finalissima match against Argentina at Wembley in June, then handed him a debut three days later against Germany in the Nations League.
He started the next game, against Hungary, and came on in the 64th minute against England, behind closed doors at Molineux, before scoring in a 5-2 defeat by Germany in Dortmund.
In doing so, Gnonto became Italy's youngest goalscorer at the age of 18 years and 222 days, breaking a record that had stood since 1958. He was nominated for this year's Golden Boy prize, a prestigious award founded by Turin-based newspaper Tuttosport to find Europe's top emerging talent.
Gnonto became his country's youngest ever goalscorer earlier this year, aged just over 18
'He is a boy, 18 years old, and should not be put under too much pressure,' said Mancini in June.
'He has to grow quietly. For his age, he knows how to play football like few other players and is very fast. If
