20-year-old may join Leeds or Crystal Palace for free, has snubbed others

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Leeds United target Osaze Urhoghide is set to stay in Britain after turning down a move to mainland Europe, The Star has said of the Sheffield Wednesday contract rebel.

The fact one of the most talented young defenders in the EFL will leave Hillsborough on a free this week speaks volumes about the massive problems that have led Sheffield Wednesday to prepare for life in League One only five years after taking on Hull in the Championship play-off final.

Half a decade of off-field woes have taken their toll on the proud old club.

Four months after Liam Shaw put pen to paper on a pre-contract agreement with Celtic, 20-year-old Urhoghide is also set to leave the Steel City giants for next to nothing.

The highly rated centre-back has rejected a chance to sign a new contract at Wednesday – and who can blame him really given The Owls appear to be hurtling in the wrong direction?

Will Urhoghide swap Sheffield Wednesday for Leeds?

Premier League rivals Crystal Palace and Watford are interested (Star), with Palace desperate to inject some youth into an ageing squad. Urhoghide would tick a lot of boxes.

However, if the likeable Urhoghide is serious about realising the potential he showed during his breakthrough season at Wednesday, he will jump at the chance to join forces with Marcelo Bielsa, the coach who turned Kalvin Phillips from a run-of-the-mill Championship midfielder into an England international and Euro 2020 match-winner.

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Urhoghide has also been linked with clubs in Portugal and Belgium.

But, according to The Star, the Dutch-born giant has rejected the chance to leave English football and now looks set to stay on British shores.

Those long-suffering Sheffield Wednesday supporters may have hoped Urhoghide would join a Sporting Lisbon or Club Brugge. Out of sight, out of mind, if you will.

Instead, they may be reduced to peeking between their fingers as Urhoghide develops into a Premier League regular under Bielsa down the road.

“He’s adaptable,” former Leeds boss Garry Monk said of Urhoghide during his time at Wednesday. “It is good that he can cover both right-back and centre-back.”