Spanish starlet Toni Villa linked to Leeds United

Leeds United have been busy in the transfer window. While the first team signings have gotten all the press, with transfers of exciting players such as Gianni Alioski and Samuel Saiz lighting up the imagination of the Leeds faithful. However, while those signings are important and might lead to great things in the near future, there have been a number of low-profile signatures of youth players that could provide dividends and solidify the future of the club.

In an effort to keep a pipeline coming from Spain, where a good number of youth players have been coming from, the club has apparently entered into an arrangement with Segunda Division side Cultural Leonesa. One player that is rumored to be loaned to Leonesa after being purchased by Leeds is young Spanish starlet Toni Villa.

Toni Villa is a 22 year old attacking midfielder who came up through the youth ranks at Real Valladolid before moving to Cultural Leonesa in the summer of 2016 on a free transfer. He moved back to Valladolid earlier in the summer for a small fee. He scored seven goals in 45 appearances for Leonesa last season, helping the team achieve promotion to the Segunda Division.

It is now rumored that Leeds United are interested in buying the player from Valladolid and loaning him to Leonesa for the upcoming season. Valladolid is rumored to be wanting a large fee for his signature, indicating that they are interested in a fee of €4.5 million, in contrast to the rumored initial offer by Leeds of €300k.

Given the difference in the rumored amounts, this seems to be a large amount of talk from agents to the press. And while Villa has some skills, scoring seven goals in the third division of Spain isn’t likely to garner a multi-million euro transfer fee. So will Villa be another Spanish import to the club? Maybe. At the very least, it appears he is on the radar of the club.