Leeds United reportedly interested in Sporting Lisbon starlet Tobias Figueiredo

Leeds United are rumoured to be set to raid Sporting Clube de Portugal for their 23 year-old central defender Tobias Figueiredo, according to reports out of Portugal.

Figueiredo has yet to see any match time for Sporting’s first team this season in the Liga NOS, but he has appeared in Cup matches for the Lisbon team this season, including 13 minutes against Olympiakos in the Champions League. He spent last season on loan at fellow Portuguese club CD Nacional, appearing 22 times.

He also appeared in 14 Liga NOS matches for Sporting in the 2014-15 season, scoring two goals, and appeared in the Europa League four times for Sporing in the 2015-16 season for Sporting, even scoring a goal.

Figueiredo is a central defender, having appeared only one time as a right back in his 80+ matches for Sporting and CD Nacional. He is a former Portugal youth player, and came up through the ranks at Sporting Lisbon, but it appears that his career has stalled at the Lisbon giants, and needs a fresh start to get back into action.

Leeds United under Victor Orta has cast a wide net scouting for talent, so it’s not shocking that the club would be looking at players from Portugal. The player has talent, and even if he’s struggled to get matches with the first team at Sporting this season, that’s no reason why he can’t come in and be able to do a job at the Championship level. He’s played in the Champions League after all.

The reported price for the player, between €3-€4 million, would be quite the deal for a young defender, even if he seems to not be in the future plans of Sporting. With the prices of English and England-based talent gone completely crazy this transfer window, it’s not surprising that Leeds are looking on the continent for some defensive help. And while, yes, it would be nice to get some “British” talent, just remember that two of the current fan favorites at the club, Samu Saiz and Pontus Jansson, both came from European teams.