Leeds United director of football Victor Orta has revealed he tried to sign Nottingham Forest star Brennan Johnson when the playmaker was just 16. Orta arrived at Elland Road in May 2017 and has since overseen recruitment at the club, playing a key role in the assembling of the current squad.
As well as identifying options to immediately strengthen the first team, the Spaniard has recruited heavily for the youth ranks and Johnson has been revealed as one of his early targets. Speaking Radio Marca, he said: "We have a project with the full support of the entire board of directors and the CEO.
"I identified that we had to anticipate and develop the 'Anticipate Project Talent' project with my scouting group of English people, who are the best in England. We had to reach the player much earlier because if we expected the player to make his debut, he would have minutes in the Championship.
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"Like Brennan Johnson now, he is a new Welsh international, the best young player in the English second division, he is already at 20. My model was to have reached Brennan Johnson when he was 16 and we tried.
"But it could not be. It could have been [Sam] Greenwood, [Joe] Gelhardt, Lewis Bate...We have paid for these players between one and two million, so we reached about 20 players".
Instead of moving to West Yorkshire, Johnson continued to climb the ranks at Forest, picking up youth caps for England and Wales along the way. After an impressive campaign on loan at Lincoln City, he broke into the first-team at the City Ground and his reputation is now burgeoning as he establishes himself as one of the most coveted talents in the Championship.
He is also now a senior Wales international and is currently on duty with his country alongside Leeds winger Daniel James. Johnson has been linked with the likes of Leeds and Brentford this season but has remained with Forest and could potentially play Premier League football with the Reds next season if they clinch promotion.
They currently trail sixth-placed Blackburn Rovers by three points and if they do not secure a return to the top flight, it is hard to imagine that clubs will not enquire about Johnson's availability.
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