Leeds United are not one of the English clubs who scout in Portugal the most but they do appear every now again and in the past it has led to reported transfer attempts.
It happened last season when the club scouted Sporting and the Lisbon club’s B team, and serious links to Tobias Figueiredo appeared. He then moved to Nottingham Forest on loan in January and did well enough to secure a permanent move to the club.
This week they’re back in Lisbon, but watching Sporting’s fierce rivals Benfica.
The scouting list (via Bruno Andrade) shows that Leeds had someone watch Wednesday evening’s match between Benfica and Ajax in the Champions League.
Players potentially of interest from both teams would arguably be out of the reach, even if promotion to the Premier League is achieved. There’s a possibility with fringe players but it’s obviously harder to manage to watch them.
There’s been no indication recently in Portugal of interest from the club in a Benfica player, so the visit is both unusual and intriguing.
One line of thought is that the official sent will have also watched the earlier UEFA Youth League match between the two sides, which finished 3-3.
