Leeds United

Leeds United scouts spotted at several games in Portugal in search for European quality players

According to Portuguese site A Bola, Leeds United scouts have been spotted at three Portuguese Premeira Liga games over the past week.

Leeds United scouts were most recently at Saturday’s game between Champions League side FC Porto and Europa League club SC Braga, along with a host of top European clubs. Scouts from Manchester United, Fulham, Crystal Palace, Juventus, Genoa, Marseille and Villarreal were all reportedly in attendance of the match, which finished 1-0 to league leaders Porto.

This is the first time Leeds United scouts have been spotted in Portugal for a while now, since they were scouting defender Tobias Figueiredo midway through last season. The Portuguese defender has since gone on to move to Championship rivals Nottingham Forest.

Scouts have been seen at two Porto games, and once at a Benfica game over the past week, which can only be encouraging to hear for Leeds fans. Despite sitting in a strong position to challenge for promotion to the Premier League, Bielsa’s side seems to need reinforcements, with four key players on the sidelines, leaving them with no option but to play players out of position on occasions. For example, Stuart Dallas put in a poor performance at wing-back on Saturday, as United were thrashed 4-1 by West Brom.

The Portuguese Premeira Liga has been a fruitful source of talent for Championship sides over the past few seasons, with Wolves in particular using their links to the league to help power their promotion to the Premier League last season. Ruben Neves, Helder Costa, Willy Boly and a selection more players came in from Portugal in 2017 to lead their charge to promotion.

Nottingham Forest have become the latest side to raid Portugal for some of their hottest talents, with Diogo Goncalves and Joao Carvalho impressing at the City Ground in the early stages of this season.

 

Previous Article
, Five potential candidates to replace Neal Ardley at AFC Wimbledon

Five potential candidates to replace Neal Ardley at AFC Wimbledon

Next Article
, Blackburn Rovers wonderkid at the centre of transfer battle between the Premier League’s top six

Blackburn Rovers wonderkid at the centre of transfer battle between the Premier League's top six

Related Posts