Leeds United reportedly looking to add Scottish starlet in January

The Scottish Sun is reporting that Heart of Midlothian midfielder Harry Cochrane is attracting the attention of the scouts at Leeds United and that Victor Orta, the Leeds Director of Football, is keen to add the teenager during the January transfer window, and is expected to make a bid of £500,000.

The Scottish starlet has gotten five starts for Hearts in the SPFL this season, making his debut against Dundee and was even thrown into the fire during the Edinburgh derby, playing against Hibernian last month. Cochrane is a central midfielder, and at 16 years old, is one for the future. Of course, under Orta, the club has stockpiled young talent, with young players from all over the world, well, okay, Spain, joining the club during the summer. Kun Temenuzhkov, who the Guardian ranked as one of the 60 best players born in the year 2000, was signed from the youth set-up at Barcelona, and Leeds swooped in to sign a number of other youth players.

Andrea Radrizzani has made an effort to build the foundation of the club and bolster the youth system, and in recent weeks, Leeds United has revealed plans to work with the Leeds City Council to build a brand-new training ground and Academy by Elland Road, creating a state-of-the-art youth Academy that should help to attract even more of the best young talent from Yorkshire, England, and across Europe.

One of the criticisms of the the new set-up at Leeds United has been the influx of “foreign” players who may not be familiar with English football or might find the transition difficult. And while the idea that the team “needs” British players is a bit silly, it’s still nice to see the club looking in Britain for talent, even if the club is still going north of the English border to look in Scotland. At the very least, the weather won’t be a surprise, right?

The Scottish Sun reported many times that Barrie McKay was an option for Leeds or Nottingham Forest, and while Leeds didn’t land the former Rangers FC winger, he’s been brilliant for Forest, so this rumour might have a bit more legs than the normal silly season talk. So while it still might be totally made-up or agent talk trying to get his star player a new contract, it’s at least a possibility.