Sheffield United and Beerschot join Hull City in pursuit of Hamilton Accies midfielder

In-demand Hamilton Accies youngster Lewis Latona is at the centre of a three-way battle for his signature next season with Sheffield United and Belgian top-tier side Beerschot joining Hull City in pursuit of the midfielder.

The 17-year-old spent 10 days down south last week on trial and while part of that was spent at English Championship Hull City, the talented teen also trained with the Blades amid Beerschot making their interest known as well.

Sheffield United have already raided Accies this season, signing Coatbridge kid Ryan One who has enjoyed a sterling start with their Development team scoring 13 goals in all competitions since joining in September last year.

However, Lanarkshire Live Sport understands that a relationship has formed between Beershot recently and that could prove a more lucrative proposition for the League One outfit longer term. That could see Latona follow a similar path to Scotland international Jack Hendry, who proved a hit in Belgium with KV Oostende after a loan from Celtic in 2020 and went on to play for Club Brugge in the country the following season.

Latona made his league debut for the club in a 3-1 win at Annan last month, having twice played for Accies on the road to them lifting the SPFL Trust Trophy last season, and has caught the eye of a number of clubs. Yesterday, Accies boss John Rankin confirmed Latona had been absent from the squad last week due to a trial in England.

Rankin, whose side are in Championship play-off action tonight when they face Alloa in the first leg of their semi-final, 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.

"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 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."

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