The 18-year-old has netted nine times for loan club Alloa Athletic and Kilmarnock B this season, after breaking into Killie’s first-team squad last season. Wales is a 2005-born Scottish youth international and has scored seven times in Scotland’s third tier this term, in addition to a further two strikes in the Challenge Cup for Killie’s reserve side at the beginning of the campaign.
North of the border, the Daily Record claim, “the 18-year-old’s recent displays have been watched by a string of English clubs, including Ipswich, Stoke and Leeds United.”
Leeds are known to be active in the Scottish market having signed young duo Josh McDonald and Lewis Pirie from Hamilton Academical and Aberdeen, respectively, last summer. Both have played a part in the U18 setup at Thorp Arch this season, helping Leeds’ youngsters to the quarter-final of the FA Youth Cup.
Billed at 6ft 2in tall, Wales has adapted well to senior football during the 2023/24 campaign, especially since the turn of the year. He has scored seven times in his last eight appearances for Scottish League One outfit Alloa.
Wales’ contract at Rugby Park is due to expire next summer. Any deal bringing the striker south of the border would require the purchasing club to agree a compensation fee with Kilmarnock, for the training and development of Wales as an academy player.
Leeds have recently agreed to the appointment of former England youth coach and Liverpool academy coaching lead Martin Diggle as the club’s new academy director at Thorp Arch.
