A report from Football Insider is linking Leeds United and West Ham United with a move for Elkan Baggott from Ipswich town, following the 6’ 5” centre-back’s decision to turn down professional terms with the League One club. Although there is still time for the Tractor Boys to agree a senior deal with the defender.
18-year-old Baggott made his debut for Ipswich in the EFL Trophy this season and has been described on Ipswich Town site TWTD as “one of the top performers” in Ipswich’s FA Youth Cup run this season.
#itfc are still working to tie young defender Elkan Baggott down to a professional contract despite interest from the Premier League #lufc #whufc https://t.co/JrbTtdVoGv
— Andy Warren (@AndyWarren_) January 6, 2021
Baggott was born in Bangkok, Thailand to an Indonesian mother and an English father and has represented Indonesia at under-19 level.
Baggott would be the latest of Victor Orta’s quest to sign as many left-footed players as possible, and following his debut performance he was described as “tall, mobile and vocal” in the East Anglian Daily Times.
Another interesting thing about Elkan Baggott is he is something of a big name on social media, boasting 134k followers on Instagram and his interview with the Indonesian FA, the PSSI has been viewed 1.16m times at the time of writing. Players getting success in England from South Asian backgrounds are rare so there are a lot of people tracking his progress.
If the player’s description of himself is anything to go off, he plays football in the “right way” for a Marcelo Bielsa side, saying in the Youtube interview (embedded above): “On the ball is one of my strengths but I’m aggressive and I’d like to say I’m solid in the back line and a leader as well.
“My role models are Virgil van Dijk and previously Rio Ferdinand. I feel like I try to base my game around van Dijk but Ferdinand is just the definition of a quality centre-back, so I try and base my game around them two players.”
I can’t pretend to have ever seen him play, or even heard of him before an hour ago. Any strong opinions? Let us know in the comments below or on Twitter @ThruItAllLUFC.