Leeds United and Sunderland want to bring Josh Hawkes to the Championship while Premier League outfit Newcastle United are also interested.
Leeds United manager Paul Heckingbottom did not exactly refute suggestions in the Sunderland Echo that Hartlepool United’s teenage midfielder Josh Hawkes was wanted at Elland Road this summer.
The report had stated that Leeds, Sunderland and Newcastle United were all keen on the 19-year-old number ten, who is just one of a number of exciting young talents emerging at Victoria Park right now.
While Heckingbottom refused to confirm Leeds’ interest, he did say that speculation over a move for Hawkes would be ‘one for the summer’, in quotes reported by Leeds Live.
And Hartlepool’s caretaker manager Matthew Bates simply can’t speak highly enough of Hawkes, who has made his mark on the first-team this season and continues to impress for the National League club.
“He has done magnificently,” Bates told the Hartlepool Mail of Hawkes, who made his fourth senior start against Solihull Motors at the weekend.
“To come into a team and perform as well as he has when they are struggling says a lot about his character. There is a lot to come from him.
“He needs to keep working to improve and not take his foot off the pedal. “He is going to play a big part between now and the end of the season.”
Many of the signings added to Leeds United’s first team in the last year have struggled to adapt to life in West Yorkshire but the much-maligned director of football Victor Orta has succeeded in bringing some prodigious talents to the U18 and U23 sides.
Hawkes would be another one for the future.
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