According to a report from football.london, Preston North End’s 17-year-old midfield prodigy Lewis Leigh is of interest to West Ham with Arsenal and Everton also vying for his signature.
Leigh joined Preston at the Under-14 age-group level after he was released by Liverpool and has since grown steadily within the youth ranks with the Lilywhites. The 17-year-old midfielder made his debut for Preston North End’s Under-18 outfit in January earlier this year in a FA Youth Cup tie against Lincoln and was one of the standout performers even though his team ended up losing.
A month later, Leigh was on the bench for the first-team as Preston played Millwall in the EFL Championship but is yet to make his senior bow for the Deepdale outfit. However, Leigh has been involved with the senior squad during the pre-season ahead of the 2021/22 campaign and has been making a decent impression.
Currently entering the final year of his scholarship contract with the Lilywhites, the central midfielder is largely expected to sign a new deal with the club but is attracting serious interest from the Premier League.
Sean, I think you (or more specifically Dave Langton) told us this story a few days ago. Sounds to me like another attempt by Moyse to bump up the PNE benevolence fund, along the lines of the Hughill deal a couple of years ago.
Or could be that Moyes is pursuing a recruitment strategy that’s served Spurs, Dortmund, RB Leipzig etc very well over the last few years: taking young , hungry players from lower league clubs and bringing them through into the first team. I don’t know anything about this kid, but, at the right price, sounds like exactly the sort of player we should be signing.
Ijd 1980. I absolutely agree. I’ve been a Hammer for 50 years, and can’t wait to see how much Moyes is going to change the ‘ West Ham Way’. But We have so much Academy potential……….
West Ham have already made some good signings of young players in the last few weeks and it is an excellent long-term strategy, but the main and urgent focus should now be on buying quality players to compete for a first team spot. The lack of transfer activity at this level is deeply worrying given that the start of the season is only a few days’ away.