Sheffield United and Hull City locked in transfer 'battle' for talented midfielder

The 17-year-old, a midfielder by trade, is highly-rated in Scotland and has already featured for Hamilton at senior level. It was recently confirmed by Hamilton boss John Rankin that Latona had spent time training with another club who have taken an interest in him.

As reported by the Daily Record, Rankin said: "Lewis has been attracting interest and we've had a note of interest from a club down south. He went down last week to have a look at them and for them to have a look at him.

"He is now back up the road. Lewis would have been involved on Saturday and would have played against Kelty but he was missing from the squad because of this trip.

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"He played against Annan for us last month and came on and made an impact in that game but, due to the circumstances of him being away for a period of time, he wasn't able to play for us. He hasn't trained with us at all since he was down there, so he won't be involved in any of these play-off games because he has spent the past 10 days down south and not with the group."

It has been claimed by the publication that Latona has trained with both Sheffield United and Hull, with both clubs interested. However, a relationship is said to have been formed with Sheffield United’s sister club, Belgian outfit Beerschot. A sale to Beerschot could reportedly prove more lucrative for Hamilton in the long term.

Rankin said: "It would be a big transition for him, being a young Scottish lad who has never been away from home before, so I think that was part of the reason why he was away for a while, to see how he might handle that obvious change in his life."

Sheffield United have raided Hamilton before, swooping to secure the signature of forward Ryan One. The talented teenager was handed a senior debut in October, in a 5-0 defeat to Arsenal.