Former Leeds United striker Richard Cresswell has revealed that Romario Vieira was close to joining a European club before Leeds snapped him up.
The twin brother of Leeds midfielder Ronaldo Vieira, Romario joined the Whites on a one-year contract earlier this week and will link up with the club's development squad this season.
Both the Vieira brothers came out of the i2i academy where former Leeds striker Cresswell is a coach, and the 38-year-old has provided an insight into the Yorkshire giants’ move for the twin brothers.
He admits Leeds always had an eye on Ronaldo before they signed him up, but Romario almost slipped through their net as a few months ago he came close to joining a European club.
However, he finally ended up at Leeds, where the coaching staff will be monitoring his development in the development squad.
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The ex-Whites striker told BBC Radio Leeds: “Ronaldo was always on the monitor of Leeds, they kept a track on him for quite some time.
“But Romario was close to signing for a Czechoslovakian team a few months ago.
"He could have gone out there, but the guys at Leeds wanted to bring him and have a look at him.
“Obviously they decided that he would be good for the Under-21s and they are going to monitor his progress.”
Romario will be looking to follow in the footsteps of his twin brother and break into the Leeds first team set-up as soon as possible.
