Brighton and Bournemouth are both taking a closer look at Néider Parra, with the Premier League pair sending scouts to watch the Colombian defender this week.
Sport Witness sources have confirmed both clubs had representatives at the Atanasio Girardot on Wednesday night.
They were there specifically to follow Parra, who gave them plenty to take away from the game.
Brighton and Bournemouth scouts watch Parra
Colombian journalist Julián Capera first reported that Premier League and Serie A scouts were in attendance to watch the 21-year-old centre-back.
Sport Witness has since been able to establish that Brighton and Bournemouth were the two English clubs represented. They had plenty of company.
Porto, Ajax and Palmeiras also had scouts there keeping an eye on Néider Parra. That collection of clubs gives a pretty good indication of the market developing around the defender.
Parra also picked a decent night to have so many people watching him. His club Atlético Nacional, top of the Colombian league, beat second-placed Junior Barranquilla 3-1 at home.
He registered an assist and won 100% of his tackles. The youngster completed 93% of his passes in his own half and made six defensive contributions.
Well, doing that in a meeting between the top two certainly won’t have hurt his case in front of the watching scouts.
Why clubs are looking at him
Néider Parra, born in April 2005, has been earning praise in Colombia for the way he combines his defensive work with ability on the ball.
One local source described him as a centre-back who enjoys winning his duels but is also comfortable playing out from defence. At 1.92m, his work in the air has improved too, which makes him a particularly interesting project for European clubs.
The same source even compared his early development to Dávinson Sánchez, who left Colombia for Ajax before eventually moving to Tottenham Hotspur.
That career path is obviously a long way off for Parra at this stage. Still, it helps explain the type of defender clubs believe they may be looking at.
So Bournemouth and Brighton might got there early, but there is already some competition building around him. And Wednesday’s performance certainly won’t have done anything to put them off.
