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Nottingham Post
Nottingham Post
Sport
Leigh Curtis

Ex-Nottingham Forest striker Ben Brereton at centre of shock transfer claim

Former Nottingham Forest striker Ben Brereton is attracting interest from Leeds United, according to reports.

The Blackburn attacker is currently on international duty with Chile in the Copa America and has already made an impact scoring once and registering an assist.

And that has piqued the interest of Whites boss Marco Bielsa who, according to Red Gol, has been monitoring the striker's progress since Leeds faced Blackburn in a pre-season friendly two years ago.

It is reported that Brereton's performances have enhanced plenty of observers from across the rest of Europe but Bielsa has dispatched scouts to watch him.

Brereton, who qualifies to play for Chile through his mother who was born in Santiago, is under contract at Rovers until 2022 and enjoyed a superb season.

He played 43 games and scored seven goals but it wasn't enough to propel Blackburn into a promotion challenge as they finished 16th in the table.

But his performances earned a call from Chile manager Martin Lasarte, who handed Brereton his debut in a 1-1 draw against Argentina when he came on as a substitute.

He then started and scored against Bolivia and played in the 1-1 draw against Uruguay.

Brereton says the language barrier is still a bit of a problem, but is learning the important words to communicate with team-mates.

"I have been learning keywords,' he said.

"They also provided me with the basic football words, and my understanding with my teammates has been very good.

"Everyone has received me very well, both players and coaching staff.

"Obviously, I have talked more with (Watford defender) Francisco Sierralta, who speaks very good English and plays in the same division as me.

"I have also spoken a lot with Sebastián Vegas, because I was with him the first night, and he also speaks very good English, but, in general, I have got along well with everyone."

Brereton scored nine goals in more than 50 appearances in all competitions for Forest having been signed by the Reds following his exit from Stoke's academy.

He then joined Blackburn for a fee believed to be around £7m in 2018.

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