Leeds United have sent a scout to watch former Nottingham Forest forward Ben Brereton in the Copa America, according to Red Gol.
The Blackburn Rovers man is playing for Chile at the tournament and has scored one goal and registered an assist.
It’s a bizarre turn of events to see Brereton performing at the tournament. He qualifies for Chile through his mother who was born in Santiago.
He is doing well at the tournament though and is settling into his new international surroundings.
It would seem as though his all-action approach hasn’t gone unnoticed either. Leeds have been watching Brereton with intrigue and Marcelo Bielsa is a big fan.
He has been on the radar of the Leeds boss for two years after starring in a Championship match for Blackburn.
Forest sold the forward to Rovers in January 2019 for £7 million. He made 57 appearances for the Reds, scoring nine goals for the club.
During 2020/21 he started to showcase his talents to the Rovers faithful. He fired seven times and laid on five other goals for his teammates.
Brereton has just a year to run on his current Ewood Park deal. As a result, Blackburn might need to act quickly to keep Leeds from snaring him.
Will Forest live to regret Brereton deal?
If he goes to Leeds and stars in their first team then Forest might look back with a smidgen of regret.
It has to be said though that the deal at the time looked like good value for money from a Forest perspective.
It’s also worth noting that in 88 appearances for Blackburn, Brereton has only scored nine goals; although he does often find himself out wide these days.
Forest fans were disgruntled when another academy graduate was sold in January 2019.
Now, he’s starring on the international stage with his adopted nation and has Leeds after his signature.
Forest, however, did get £7 million out of his sale and it does seem unlikely they’ll truly ever regret offloading him.