According to the Daily Mail’s Mail Online site, Leeds United and Swansea City are just two of six Sky Bet Championship clubs chasing Tottenham Hotspur’s exciting talent Tashan Oakley-Boothe.
Alongside the Whites and the Rams are a quartet of other Championship sides said to have an interest in the 19-year-old central midfielder with Derby County, Reading, Huddersfield Town, and Stoke City said to also be monitoring the youngster.
For Swansea, it would be a reuniting with Steve Cooper for Oakley-Boothe with the former managing the player when in charge of England Under-17s side two years ago. The Spurs starlet was a key figure in that side, a side that surged to the finals of the Under-17 World Cup, eventually winning it.
However, Oakley-Boothe missed the final with a head injury, yet the run of games came as part of his 19-game run in the Under-17s before promotion, and two caps, came via the Under-18 England set-up.
Away from the international game, the young midfielder has extensive representation for Spurs at youth level, having been at the club all his fledgeling football career. Whilst only featuring once for the first-team in a one-minute appearance in a 2017 EFL Cup win against Barnsley, he has appeared on the bench once in the Premier League (vs Burnley – 2017), once in the FA Cup (vs Newport County – 2017) and in the Champions League (vs APOEL Nicosia – 2017).
Leeds United have a very proud record of bringing youngsters through to the first-team set-up, and they are fearless in their approach to this. Already things are bubbling up with impressive youngsters ready to be blooded at Elland Road this season. Last season youngsters Jack Clarke and Jamie Shackleton racked up over 40 Championship appearances between them. That led to Leeds selling Clarke for £10million to Spurs, before loaning him back.
That relationship, plus the level of respect that Mauricio Pochettino has for Marcelo Bielsa could also be an avenue that the Whites could explore should they wish to firm up their interest and increase the pace of their chase for Oakley-Boothe.
