In news reported by the i2i Academy Twitter page, the wonderfully named Ronaldo Vieira Nan, a Portuguese national of Guinea-Bissau descent, has signed for Leeds United on a two-year scholarship deal.
Congratulations to @i2i_ACADEMY player @Ronaldo_Vieira8 who signed a two year scholarship with @LUFC today #i2ifamily pic.twitter.com/DwYTbKY2T3
— i2i Football Academy (@i2iFootballAcad) September 25, 2015
The youngster, named after Brazilian great Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima – the original ‘Ronaldo’, first appeared for Leeds United in a trial match for the Under-21s Academy side against the Isle of Man national team on May 1st this year. The game finished 1-1 but the 16-year old must have impressed the club sufficiently in the previous week’s Under-17 game in order to warrant a step up to the Under-21 side and for him to be pitted against higher grade opposition.
The youngster, once on the books of Portuguese giants Benfica, now becomes a White and takes up the next two years of his footballing education at Leeds United’s Thorp Arch facility under the expert tutelage of recently-appointed Paul Hart. Here he will continue his footballing development alongside Leeds’ exciting crop of current youngsters, many of whom have gone on to have a starring role in the first team at Elland Road.
