Cork City manager John Caulfield has revealed that young defender Brian Lenihan has been scouted by an array of Premier League clubs.
The 20-year-old, who has been capped at Under-21 level by the Republic of Ireland, has been watched closely by Arsenal, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur.
Everton, Aston Villa and Hull City are also said to be interested in capturing the signing of Lenihan, but Cork have so far rejected two bids for the full-back.
"A lot of teams have watched him, but it's a business deal and it isn't up to Cork City to name the clubs involved," Caulfield is quoted as saying by Goal.com. "Everyone knows who has watched him; Arsenal have, Hull have, we've realised that Manchester United have watched him, Tottenham, Everton and Villa have watched him.
"They've all had direct club employees to look at him as opposed to some of the Championship clubs, who'd have an agent saying he's representing them. The official situation is that we received two bids and both have been rejected. One of the clubs has come back to us and we're in negotiations with them but there's still quite a bit of work to do.
"Do I think that he'll be gone across channel in the next couple of weeks? I believe that he will, and we have to make sure that we get the proper deal and Brian does too. What we have to try and do is a structured deal that if he plays international football or moves on elsewhere, we get rewarded. That's probably what you have to look at."
Lenihan made the move to Cork from Munster Senior League side College Corinthians in 2012.
Daniel Lewis
