Aston Villa were joined by English heavyweights Manchester United, Liverpool and Manchester City in launching a scouting mission for Turkish wonderkid Omer Faruk Beyaz, according to Fanatik.
The Turkish publication claim on their website that the Villans were in attendance alongside much of the European footballing elite to keep close tabs on the 15-year-old Fenerbahce midfielder as he dazzled in the final of the Aegean Cup youth tournament.
Beyaz netted twice in the final and was named as the under-16 competition’s best player in front of scouts from the likes of Bayern Munich, Juventus and Borussia Dortmund.
Opinion
At 15 it is difficult to tell just how much of a success a player is going to be but it seems that Beyaz has piqued the interest of some of the biggest sides in world football. A midfielder who can operate centrally or a more attacking role, he has been moved in Fenerbahce’s under-19 squad already, while has been a regular for his country at under-16 level. Villa are obviously hoping to keep close tabs on him with a view to snapping up his signing but with this amount of interest in him they are going to struggle to convince him that the midlands is the best place for his development. Only the promise of regular playing time and the opportunity to use Villa Park as a stepping stone to bigger and brighter things will get him to join Dean Smith’s men in the near future. That seems unlikely – but it is promising to see that the Villans are tracking some of the most exciting youth talent around today. Maybe they will stumble onto the next big thing ahead of any of their rivals, but Beyaz already looks like a lost cause.