Mathew Leckie zu Bor. M'gladbach?

The 19-year-old has drawn the interest of several European clubs since arriving in Adelaide a year ago and is understood to have been offered a first-team contract in Germany.

And while the more likely scenario would see any interested club waiting until April to avoid the transfer fee, the German Bundesliga season doesn't finish until mid-May so Leckie could come in for the last 17 games of the season if he left in January.[...]
Bundesliga giant Borussia Monchengladbach is believed to be the team most keen to secure the promising right winger.

The club tabled an offer for Leckie in January this year - but the Victorian turned it down to be part of Rini Coolen's new era at Hindmarsh.

"We thought this year with Rini would be really good because he would help me become a better player," Leckie said.

"Obviously my contract ends at the end of this year but I haven't decided what's going to happen."

Unlike Verbeek, Osieck wants rising young stars to think carefully before accepting any offers to move offshore and has warned the A-League's hottest young talent, Adelaide United forward Mathew Leckie, to be wary of a move to Germany's Bundesliga.

Leckie, 19, off contract at the end of the season, has according to German reports, been linked with a move to Borussia Monchengladbach.

"I mean the Bundesliga, you should never under-rate that, that's a major step," Osieck said.

ADELAIDE United's teenage hotshot Mathew Leckie is reportedly weighing up an offer to join German Bundesliga outfit Borussia Moenchengladbach.

Sky Sports claims the 19-year-old striker, who has scored four goals this season for the league-leading Reds, has been offered a three-year deal by Moenchengladbach.

It is understood Leckie could seal his switch to the North Rhine-Westphalia club in the January transfer window.

STRIKER Mathew Leckie will repay Adelaide United for affording him his big football break by deferring a move to Germany until season's end.

Leckie was linked with a move to the Bundesliga in the January transfer window but the Young Socceroo cannot countenance leaving Adelaide on the brink of an inaugural A-League title triumph.

"I would definitely rather stay for the season for both me and the club," he said.

" We are having a really great season. I want to be part of the whole thing.

"Adelaide gave me the opportunity and I took it, but I would never have had it if it wasn't for them. I would like to prove how happy I am with the chance."

Leckie's manager John Grimaud has struck an in-principle agreement for a three-year deal with Bundesliga side Borussia Moenchengladbach.

He said the parties were "close" to confirming a deal. "He will stay to season's end. Moenchengladbach is the club we are dealing with and they have come out twice to speak," Grimaud said."We won't be trying to deal with other clubs for the sake of a few bucks." [...]

"It is a great league, a difficult league, but it has a focus on developing young players," Grimaud said. "You only have to look at the young players coming from the Bundesliga and Moenchengladbach to the German national team like Marco Reus and Patrick Herrmann.

"Mark Bosnich has kindly said that while 80 per cent of Australian players don't make it overseas, he will be in the 20 per cent that do."

Leckie said it would be a "tough initiation" in Germany but one he must confront. "I want to get over there and start again, get experience against the best players," said Leckie, with four goals in eight games in his second A-League campaign since he was snared from Victorian Premier League side Bulleen. "You always look at people's opinions and Holger's is one you really look at. I guess you don't know until you get there."