Leeds United’s new owner Andrea Radrizzani said in a speech at the annual awards evening that he was looking to overhaul a club that he said had infrastructure stuck in the 70s.
The Italian has stuck to his word and the fans have seen changes at all levels. The stadium has had a cosmetic makeover with new banners being hung, behind-the-scenes staff have been recruited in key positions, and the playing squad has had more than a spruce up.
This recruitment of playing staff has been at all levels of the club with players such as the exciting Ezgjan Alioski and magisterial Samu Saiz snapped up for the first team squad. However, there has also been action further down the playing ladder with a plethora of signings being made for the Under-18 and Under-23 sides.
Some of these signings have come with footballing CVs from illustrious clubs such as Real Madrid and Barcelona, and it is one of the players, Kun Temenuzhkov, from the latter who caught the eye in a friendly tie against Ossett Town yesterday.
https://twitter.com/OssettTownAFC/status/900090052969197569
The young Bulgarian striker arrived at Barcelona after spells at junior clubs Fraga, Lleida and UE Bordeta, originally being brought into the Barcelona Youth set-up at La Masia in 2014. He graduated into the Barcelona Juvenil B squad, the age-group side we’d recognise as Under-17, at the end of July 2016.
Leeds United can now look forwards to reaping the rewards of a player that Bulgarian football writer M Shumaov (@shumansko) on Twitter said was “Bulgaria’s hottest prospect.”
This move for Temenuzhkov is a sign of a new direction explained by Andrea Radrizzani in an interviewat the start of this month where he said of recruitment: “This time we have signed nine players for the top team, for the first team and we have probably signed 12 between Under-18 and Under-23, so it is very important that we refresh our youth academy.
Last season, for Barcelona’s Cadete A side, youngster Temenuzhkov netted 31 goals in just 29 games and it seems that the Bulgarian youngster is off to more than a decent start to his Leeds United career playing well for the Under-23s despite being just 17 years of age.
