According to the latest reports from the Daily Record, Leeds United had sent scouts to watch Motherwell’s youngster Jake Hastie in action against St. Mirren. The 19-year-old winger is in the final few months of his contract with the Well, and he is yet to commit to a long term deal with them. Along with the Whites, the likes of West Bromwich Albion and Sunderland had also sent scouts to watch the youngster from close quarters.
The winger marked the occasion with a beautiful goal from long range which helped his side win the game with a 2-1 scoreline. Hastie has come up from Motherwell’s academy and had spent the first half of the season on loan with second-tier outfit Alloa Athletic. However, he has firmly established himself in the Motherwell first team after a few impressive displays for them across all competitions.
Leeds United are in desperate need to add reinforcements in their attacking department. The club came close to signing Daniel James from Swansea City in the January transfer window but the move collapsed in the last few hours. However, a name like Hastie wouldn’t impress the club’s fans so much as the youngster is still not a proven his worth and is likely going to take a few years to establish himself.
Hastie is a left-footed winger who likes to play on the left flank. The 19-year-old has a terrific record so far in the Scottish second division, and the youngster has also been impressive for Motherwell in recent weeks. The Scotsman has scored or made five goals in his last eight games so one can understand why so many English clubs are after him.
Young wingers are known to be pacey and full of tricks, but they often lack the final product. However, Hastie has shown that he can produce that telling moment in the final third regularly as he has made 25 goalscoring contributions in his past 70 professional appearances so far.
Leeds United are currently one of the best clubs to nurture young talent as Bielsa has shown that he wouldn’t shy away from throwing them into big games. Jack Clarke is the biggest success story for the Whites as the 18-year-old is having a breakthrough season and some Premier League heavyweight clubs were interested (The Express) in him last month.
If the Whites get promoted to the Premier League, they would need to recruit proven quality who have consistently performed at the highest level. However, the Scottish Premiership is far more forgiving than the English Premier League in terms of quality on the pitch. Therefore we feel that the Whites must be seeing Hastie as a prospect for the future as he is far from the finished product at this moment.
