The 19-year-old striker has made a good start to the season for Leeds Under-23s and was called up to the England Under-20 set-up.
The teenager scored a brace after coming on from the bench against the Romania Under-20s during the break and caught the eye with his performance in front of goal.
Dorigo stressed that it is important that Gelhardt keeps scoring goals at a high level and insisted that he is very highly rated by Leeds.
The former Whites star insisted that playing international football even at youth level will help him gain experience of playing against different styles and systems and will only help him to further develop.
Dorigo wrote in his column for the Yorkshire Evening Post: “For Joe Gelhardt it’s banging the goals in.
“He came on as a sub for England Under-20s and still scored twice. Everything I’ve heard about him suggests there are really high hopes for him at Leeds.
“Those Under-20 games are important as you progress, to show what you can do, to show you can score goals and play against different types, styles and countries.
“What a great start for him.”
Leeds snapped up Gelhardt from Wigan last year and scored 13 times for the Leeds Under-23s in 20 appearances, but is yet to make his senior debut for the Whites.
