Leeds United rivalling Nottingham Forest and AC Milan in pursuit of defender | OneFootball

Leeds United are interested in Freiburg defender Bruno Ogbus, who is also on the radar of AC Milan and Nottingham Forest.

Highlights

Leeds United are interested in signing Freiburg’s Bruno Ogbus, although they face competition from Nottingham Forest and AC Milan for the defender.

The 18-year-old is highly-rated by the Bundesliga outfit, although he is yet to make his debut for the senior side, with his game time in recent seasons coming for the U19s and the reserve side.

But, his potential has caught the eye of clubs across Europe, with AC Milan having a ‘low digit’ offer in the millions turned down for the player.

And, in a fresh development, Sky Germany reporter Florian Plettenberg revealed that Leeds have joined the race for the teenager - although it could be difficult to convince Freiburg to cash in.

“Understand that Leeds and Forest are also interested in Freiburg’s top talent Bruno Ogbus. Both clubs are monitoring the 18y/o defender. But: Ogbus is not for sale, as Freiburg want to keep him.”

Bruno Ogbus is an exciting talent

It has been reported that Freiburg’s plan for Ogbus is to integrate him into the first-team this season, and they hope that the promise of Bundesliga football will keep him at the club.

That highlights just how much they think of the Swiss youth international, and he will know that German clubs have consistently shown over the years that they offer a pathway to the first-team for younger players, so the prospect of remaining with Freiburg is going to appeal.

Yet, AC Milan are obviously a massive club, and Forest have Premier League wages, which could swing things in their favour if they formalise their interest with a bid.

You would imagine Leeds would have to sell their project to Ogbus to convince him to come to Elland Road, but he could get game time in the Championship, even if you wouldn’t expect him to dislodge the likes of Joe Rodon and Pascal Struijk initially.

Leeds United are right to target youth

There’s always a demand from fans for their club to prioritise the first-team, and there’s no doubt that Leeds supporters will expect new faces to arrive to improve Daniel Farke’s XI before the deadline.

But, despite the valid criticism of the former regime, one thing Leeds have got right in the past four or five years is the signing of talented young players.

The most obvious success is Crysencio Summerville, who joined the club from Feyenoord for £1.3m as he thought he would get more opportunities with the Whites.

He became a star player for Leeds, and they’ve just sold him to West Ham United for a fee in excess of £25m, which comes on the back of a brilliant year on the pitch.

So, it’s clearly a model that works, and other youngsters will see Summerville’s journey, and how he enjoyed his time at Elland Road, and they will want to replicate that, so it does have a knock-on effect as well in helping the club’s reputation.