Leeds United’s first-team have been very exciting to follow this season, but their U23s outfit have arguably been just as interesting this term too.

The Whites signed many young talents this summer with the likes of Sam Greenwood, Cody Drameh and Joe Gelhardt joining the Elland Road outfit, but perhaps the most exciting player in that team joined last year.

Indeed, Stuart McKinstry looks like he’s ready to make in-roads towards a place in the first-team at Leeds and we can understand why.

Phil Hay has recently speculated that he’s close to the first-team picture at the club on a recent episode of The Next Big Thing podcast, saying:

“It’s development for him at the moment, but you’ll be noticing that quite a few younger players are starting to go out of Leeds on loan now.

“McKinstry’s still in the building and I think is most likely to stay in the building for now, and those that [Marcelo] Bielsa feels are closest to the first-team picture are the ones that he wants to stick around.”

You can understand why Bielsa wants to keep McKinstry close by, the winger has undergone a meteoric rise since joining Leeds last summer, quickly making the jump from U18s football to the U23s despite being just 16 at the beginning of the season.

He was an excellent addition to the U23s as well, netting two goals in seven appearances while working under Carlos Corberan last term.

McKinstry has just turned 18 and he’s already training with the first-team and impressing the manager while doing so, and it isn’t just Bielsa who has been impressed by what the Scot offers.

When McKinstry signed his new deal last year, Danny Mills described him as a ‘very talented’ player, and that is high praise from a former England international.

Of course, senior football is a massive step up, but it looks as though McKinstry is getting closer and closer to making his United debut and everyone close to the club can’t stop raving about him.