Leeds United aren’t a club who keep scouts in Portugal constantly. Although there are several English sides who have officials in the country every weekend, the Elland Road club don’t really do it regularly.
Still, it turns out there’s a good reason to believe the Championship side have been finding something interesting at Braga.
As reported by newspaper A Bola, the Whites were on the list of clubs who watched the Europa League clash between Braga and Rangers on Wednesday evening, which was won by the Scottish side 1-0.
And when checking our records, we’ve found out that Leeds have actually visited the Portuguese side before. Although they don’t do it very often, they’ve been there at least once a year, with reports in 2017, 2018 and 2019 proving it.
The visits coincide with the arrival of sporting director Victor Orta at the club, making it a possibility that it’s been a new plan since the official took his position at Elland Road.
Championship sides rarely do top level European scouting jobs, and usually don’t keep following the same Portuguese club if not Benfica, Porto or Sporting.
Something which is also interesting is that Sevilla had a scout in this match as well. Since Monchi used to work along with Orta at the Spanish side, perhaps they have similar plans when scouting Braga.
Being just outside of the traditional Portuguese top three, prices at Braga are cheaper, although they still have some good talent.
Although Braga couldn’t get qualification last night, there were still good things to see from the performances of goalkeeper Matheus and winger Esgaio.
But the obvious target at the Portuguese side continues to be Ricardo Horta. With 18 goals and seven assists this season so far, it’s clear that his time at the club won’t last much longer, and maybe a promotion to the Premier League could help Leeds to attract him.
