After making his debut for Kilmarnock B and loan club Alloa Athletic last season, the 18-year-old has nine goals for both teams this season. Wales, a 2005-born Scottish youth international, has scored seven goals in Scotland’s third division so far this season. He also scored two goals for Killie’s reserve team in the Challenge Cup at the start of the season.

“A string of English clubs, including Ipswich, Stoke and Leeds United, have been watching the 18-year-old’s recent displays,” the Daily Record claims, citing evidence from sources north of the border.

After signing Josh McDonald and Lewis Pirie, two young players from Hamilton Academical and Aberdeen, respectively, last summer, Leeds is well-known for being aggressive in the Scottish market. Both have contributed to the Thorp Arch U18 setup this season, helping Leeds’ young players advance to the FA Youth Cup quarterfinal.

Standing 6 feet 2 inches tall, Wales has done a great job adjusting to senior football in the 2023–24 season, particularly since the start of the season. In his last eight games for Alloa, a team in Scottish League One, he has scored seven goals.

Rugby Park’s contract with Wales is set to expire in the summer of 2019. In order to train and develop Wales as an academy player, the purchasing club would need to agree to a compensation fee with Kilmarnock as part of any transaction that brought the striker south of the border.

Martin Diggle, a former England junior coach and Liverpool academy coaching lead, has been appointed as the new academy director at Thorp Arch by Leeds.