The Owls ex-scholar was listed amongst the top 60 youngsters in the world by the Guardian in October 2018.
As far as academies go, Leeds United have a superb setup at Thorp Arch, with the recently won Professional Development League title proof of how well the Whites academy is doing.
On top of that, Marcelo Bielsa has shown his faith in the club’s youth players, by giving the likes of Jack Clarke and Jamie Shackleton opportunities in the first team this season.
“For academy lads all over the country, this is the best place to be,” Shackleton is quoted by Leeds Live as saying earlier this week after Carlos Corberan’s side won the PDL title.
About 32 miles down south, fellow Yorkshire side Sheffield Wednesday announced on Wednesday that Under-18s player Eyad Hammoud has been released following the end of his scholarship at Hillsborough.
Hammoud is notable for having been named by The Guardian earlier this season as one of the 60 most talented players – born in 2001 – in the entire world, a list which includes players from Liverpool, Bayern Munich and Barcelona.
According to the article, the 17-year-old – born to a Lebanese father and Bulgarian mother – first made headlines in 2016 when, at the age of 15 years and four months, he became the second-youngest player to feature in the Bulgarian top flight.
The article lists pace and stamina – noting that he once offered to play for three of Lokomotiv Plovdiv’s youth teams on the same day – as two of Hammoud’s key attributes, and claims both Arsenal and Stoke City had the teenager on trial before the Owls snapped him up.
Now, obviously Wednesday’s scouts must have had their reasons for parting with Hammoud, and so Leeds need to do their homework on him, but he must have something about him to be listed in such an illustrious roll call of young football talents, and so the Whites should move quickly to snap him up.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
