Harry Cochrane should pick Leeds over Brighton if given choice

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Leeds United and Brighton and Hove Albion are reportedly tussling for Harry Cochrane’s signature.

In terms of surprises of the season in the Scottish Premiership, there are arguably few better contenders than the emergence of Harry Cochrane, who has been hugely impressive and is still more than a month away from his 17th birthday.

The central midfielder has become an important player for Hearts, and keeping hold of him looks set to be one of Craig Levein’s biggest tasks this summer with The Scottish Sun reporting that Brighton and Leeds are both keen on adding the teenager to their ranks.

If both clubs do decide to make bids this summer and Cochrane is left with a choice between the two, it could certainly be argued that choosing to make the switch to Elland Road rather than the Amex Stadium would be the more sensible option.

Chris Hughton could certainly be forgiven for not giving his academy prospects a chance this season with the club facing their first campaign in the Premier League. But the fact that Lewis Dunk and Solly March are the only two first-team players to have previously spent time in the academy, and that 21-year-old Izzy Brown is the youngest player to have featured for the Seagulls in the Premier League this term shows it is a big ask for any youngster to break into the side while they are establishing themselves in the top flight.

Meanwhile, Leeds’ strategy of recruiting a large group of players for the under-23 ranks has come in for criticism, but there are a group of youngsters who have been included in matchday squads in the first-team this season.

And with Paul Heckingbottom now at the helm and Leeds’ play-off hopes seemingly bleak, it would not be a surprise if some of the brightest prospects do get more chances during the remaining weeks of the season.

The path to the first-team from the youth side is definitely there at Leeds and that should encourage Cochrane that if he was to join the Whites, he may stand a better chance of breaking into the first-team and building on the promise that he shown at Tynecastle this season.