Leeds United could be nearing a deal to bring Diogo Monteiro to Elland Road in the January transfer window.

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Transfer Focus

That's according to Phil Hay, with the journalist revealing in his latest article for The Athletic that Victor Orta is now 'confident' of securing the services of the Servette FC centre-back this month, however, the reporter remained slightly ambiguous as to whether or not the Whites have submitted a concrete offer for the 17-year-old defender at present.

Back on January 18, Hay reported that Leeds were 'lining up a bid' for the Portugal U19 international, with Orta and Jesse Marsch believed to view the teenager as a 'major defensive prospect' who would join the Premier League side as part of their 'anticipating talent' recruitment programme.

Gnonto 2.0

Considering just how much success Leeds have enjoyed with the £5m signing of Wilfried Gnonto from fellow Swiss side FC Zurich in the summer transfer window, it is not surprising to learn that Orta is once again looking to dip his toe into the Super League talent pool this winter - especially for a prospect as exciting as Monteiro.

Indeed, while it is true that the £440k-rated talent has featured in just seven senior games in his career, the centre-back very much caught the eye during his first start of the 2022/23 Super League campaign against league-leaders BSC Young Boys back in November of last year.

Over his 90 minutes on the pitch, the 18-year-old was imperious in the heart of the Servette backline, making two tackles, one interception and blocking one shot, as well as winning six of his ten duels - at a success rate of 60%.

The youngster also highly impressed in possession of the ball, enjoying a total of 88 touches - the second-most of any player to feature in the match - and completing 67 of his 77 attempted passes - at a success rate of 87% - in addition to finding his man with seven of his 13 attempted long balls, completing one cross and playing one key pass.

These returns not only played a crucial role in Servette securing a hard-earned 0-0 draw against Young Boys, but also saw Monteiro earn a simply sensational Sofascore statistical rating of 7.4 - the second-highest rating received by any player to feature in the fixture.

It is undoubtedly performances such as this that led Conor McGilligan to draw comparisons between the Portuguese prodigy and Gnonto, with the Leeds podcasters stating in a recent video on the One Leeds Fan Channel:

"It's great that we're bringing a centre-back in, maybe he can bring himself through the ranks a little bit quicker. Obviously, we saw with Willy Gnonto, it felt like his first introduction to this Leeds United was going to be in the youth setup, but he was that good that he bolstered his way up into that first team and now he's arguably the best player in the entire squad.

“So I mean, you expect him [Monteiro] to be decent. We know with our youth products that have been signed that there is a pathway to that first team, which is really good from Leeds United's point of view. And yeah, I'm excited by this one. I think any centre-back coming in is a positive."

As such, should Orta manage to get a deal over the line for the 18-year-old who scout Ron Dor dubbed a "beast" this month, the Spanish director of football could well have unearthed his next Gnonto-esque talent at Elland Road - a prospect that is sure to be an incredibly exciting one for all involved with the Whites.