Leeds ace Mowatt ‘ready for fast-track’

The talented midfielder, rapidly emerging as the find of 2013-14 for United – just as fellow teenager Sam Byram was for last season – was expected to be handed his Under-19s bow in today’s friendly with Hungary, only for injury to intervene.

Mowatt missed last weekend’s 4-2 victory at Charlton Athletic due to a groin strain, which forced United to withdraw the 18-year-old Doncaster lad from the squad, managed by former Whites defender Noel Blake.

Despite his hopes of an Under-19s debut being postponed, Mowatt’s time will come soon enough on the international stage if his progression continues – possibly at a higher level, according to Whites coach and development squad boss Redfearn.

He said: “Noel rang me about three weeks ago and asked about Alex and we talked about this, that and the other and what he was good at. I said, ‘listen, Noel, I have seen your Under-19s, he will get in – no danger at all’. I then said, ‘what you want to be thinking of with him is not your (Under-) 19s, but your (Under-) 21s.’ Because he’s that good.

“But we have to take the pressure off and let him play. Because at this moment, because of his youth, the sky’s the limit.”

The rapid development of Byram and the propulsion onto the first-team scene of fellow young pro Mowatt may represent the headline news as far as the academy is concerned over the past year, but a host of others have not escaped the attention of manager Brian McDermott.

The meticulous Whites boss is making it his business to keep abreast of the progress of all of the academy’s youngsters, according to Redfearn, confident in the knowledge that the club’s youthful crop have a “real window of opportunity” under the ex-Reading manager.

Redfearn said: “The most important thing with kids is that you must have a manager who understands and wants to develop youth and play them and see what they have got. And in Brian McDermott, we have. If he thinks they are good enough, he puts them in.”

Leeds United’s Ross McCormack received a late call-up to Gordon Strachan’s Scotland squad last night.

McCormack was drafted in to replace injured Jordan Rhodes.

The Scots host the USA tomorrow and visit Norway on Tuesday.

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