, Leeds United youngster poised for loan move – “already trained”

Leeds United youngster poised for loan move – “already trained”

A week back, and as reported here on The72, Spanish broadcast journalist Manuel Noeda broached on Twitter that Leeds United Under-23 midfielder-cum-central defender Oriol Rey was closing in on a loan move.

It was a strange post in some ways, Rey having just been named on the bench for Leeds United’s first-team game at Swansea City. However, Noeda was certain that this was a talked-about move that would go ahead, stressing in reply to one question (below) that it was going to be a “loan deal in any case.”

However, things seem to have moved on from there and Noeda’s exposure of the move has taken on a deeper sense of gravitas with news that the youngster is in Spain and has, indeed, “already trained” with his new teammates ahead of the move.

Rey, the Spanish word for King, started out as a defensive midfielder for the Barcelona youth side, graduating first to the Juvenil B set-up at the Catalan giants in July 2014. From then it was a promotion to the Juvenil A side where he played the most minutes in the run to the semi-final stage of the 2016/17 UEFA Youth League competition.

In this run to the semis, and a 2-1 defeat to Red Bull Salzburg’s youngsters, Rey came up against sides put out by the likes of Borussia Monchengladbach and Borussia Dortmund as well as against Celtic and the highly regarded youngsters at Manchester City.

In his time at Leeds, Rey has featured heavily for the Under-23s and has shown that composure on the ball that you’d expect from a graduate that’s been through Barcelona’s fabled La Masia academy system. He’s thought of well at Elland Road, this move out to 2º División B side UB Conquense, who are based in Cuenca, will give him exposure to first-team football that he wouldn’t be guaranteed at Elland Road.

Such were the consistency of his efforts in Carlos Corberan’s Under-23 side at Elland Road that the youngster has been rewarded with a new two-year deal at the club as per the Leeds United website.

However it does appear that his immediate future is away from LS11 and more in Spain’s Castilla La Mancha region.

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