Manchester City academy scout Jakub Bokiej arrived in England a decade ago and was initially part of Leeds United’s youth system.
After realising at a young age that it would be difficult to play professional football, the Pole decided to shift focus to finding young talents.
Initially, he started with the Whites, before joining the Premier League winners’ academy. He also runs and heads the Polish Football Academy that’s based in Leeds.
Polish outlet TVP Sport interviewed the 25-year-old and asked whether Leeds parted ways with him because of the Citizens’ interest.
Responding to that, he said: “No, no, it was me who parted ways with Leeds rather than they parting with me. My contract was running out, I thanked and changed the club – in a nutshell.”
Despite leaving Leeds for City, Bokiej still has ties with his former club’s officials. The Polish scout has now revealed he was approached by Leeds sporting director Victor Orta, who asked to be told about talents rejected by City.
“This project grew rapidly. There’s been a lot of noise in the city about the football-scouting environment. People from Leeds United started coming to us,” Bokiej explained.
“We associated with the sports director of the club from the time of my episode. Anyway, we still have a pretty good relationship.”
“That’s an interesting story, too. We haven’t seen each other for three or four years since I left, and we met in the car park six months ago. And what captivated me? He gave me his business card and asked that if I had a player who did not make it to City, I should send him to him.
“For various reasons, our paths diverged, and yet someone can appreciate you and is aware that you do not need to be best friends, but wants your players. It shows both the quality of my scouting and the academy. Such moments allow us to draw a lot of conclusions.
“And returning to the question and the moment of exit [from Leeds], the situation was interesting. Leeds saw a few of our players, they showed themselves well, one quickly got an offer to sign a contract.
“City also looked at the project, and after a year they decided to offer a contract. I went to a meeting, and it didn’t take long. We had a similar vision, they agreed to my terms.”
