A Ligue 1 championship and split? Lille OSC will probably remain without five important players, but at least the financial satisfaction will be immense for the club from the north of France this summer.
We are witnessing another champion’s fairytale, after Monaco in 2017, in the French Ligue 1 during the era of Paris Saint-Germain dominance created by Qatari petrodollars. Lille could also win the title as they have a three-point advantage over Les Parisiens two rounds before the end of the championship. And, given that they play against Saint-Étienne at home and visit Angers (which are the matches you can bet on the best mobile betting sites) until the curtain goes down for the season, Christophe Galtier’s team should not have a difficult job to retain the position at the top.
What Will Happen to Lille Has Already Happened to Monaco in 2017
We all remember what happened to Monaco after that championship season – the rich European teams ‘preyed upon’ the club from the Principality and, within two years, bought everything that was worth anything. From Kylian Mbappé, Fabinho, and Thomas Lemar, through Tiémoué Bakayoko, to Benjamin Mendy, Bernardo Silva… It is a fate that certainly awaits Lille, with or without champions’ laurels.
Well-known Italian journalists Fabrizio Romano, followed by numerous other European and, especially, UK media reported that Leicester agreed on the transfer of Boubakary Soumaré from Lille for “a little less than 30 million euros”, which is actually the sum of about 25 million.
Soumaré has been one of the most sought-after young defensive midfielders in the Old Continent for some time now, while many compare his qualities to the combination of Paul Pogba and Naby Keïta. Leicester decided to buy a player of great potential in France again, just as they did two years ago when they brought Youri Tielemans from Monaco for an almost identical amount of money.
According to renowned media, Soumaré had agreed on personal conditions with Leicester back in February and the Premier League club just wanted to see how the season and his game would unfold to the end. Since he managed not only to keep the current shape but also to raise the level of his games, they no longer wanted to waste time at King Power Stadium but reached an agreement with Lille that might bring the fifth-largest amount of money from sales to the French club.
Soumaré was the protégé of Paris Saint-Germain, with whom he won the French youth championship in 2016 but, because he failed to impose himself in the first team of PSG, he came to Lille on the initiative of the then newly appointed sports director Luís Campos, known as the man who built the champion’s team of Monaco.
Soumaré the First From Lille to Cash in on His Games, 4 More on the Radar
The news about the agreed transfer of Soumaré comes only a few days after the famous Radio Monte Carlo announced the agreed transfer of goalkeeper Mike Maignan to Milan for 15 million euros with a 1.5 million bonus. This is an amazing deal for the ‘Rossoneri’, which could complete the transfer of Jonathan Ikone in the ‘package’.
The guy that Dortmund was interested in last summer, at a time when it was rumored that Jadon Sancho would go to Manchester United for a nine-figure sum of money, could now end up at San Siro.
Media close to Milan claim that the sports sector of the club immediately opened talks for Ikone after the deal for the statistically best goalkeeper in League 1 was closed. Last summer, Lille asked for around 45 million euros for the right-wing offensive player who was also brought by PSG as a youth member and for whom there was no place in the first team just a year after Soumaré.
That is certainly too much money for Milan at the moment, but in the case of the sale of Samu Castillejo, which is being talked about more and more, the money could be used to bring Ikone who would practically be a direct replacement for the former Villarreal player.
Shortly after the official arrival of José Mourinho to the bench, Roma’s sports director Tiago Pinto started assembling a new squad for the summer. The transfer of Nemanja Matic is mentioned, with whom Mourinho has a long-term relationship that goes beyond just a mere relationship of a coach and a player since they worked together at Chelsea and Manchester United, but the arrival of Renato Sanches has been apostrophized as the big ‘catch’ for the last couple of days.
The midfielder, for whom Bayern once paid 35 million euros and, as it turned out, made a mistake found a new football life in Lille, returned his career to the time when he was marked in the Benfica jersey as one of the most talented players in Europe and is reportedly now ready to give it a try again at a higher level of football.
Whether he will do that in Roma or not remains to be seen since his games are followed by several other clubs across Europe, and allegedly Man United and Liverpool are among them. Lille is asking for a minimum of 30 million euros for his transfer, and the price could increase further if the championship title is verified, which is quite realistic.
Lille will probably remain without center-back Sven Botman this summer. It should be remembered that the transfer bomb echoed back in February when the French Canal+ announced that Lille had agreed to transfer the defender for 45 million euros to the ranks of an “unnamed European giant”.
Everyone turned their eyes to Liverpool, but now it is increasingly certain that the ‘Reds’ will take Ibrahima Konaté from Leipzig for 10 million euros less than Botman costs, so the possibility remains that the Dutch will go to Old Trafford.
Lille Confirmed Once Again They Are a ‘Factory’ for the Player Production
Let us remind you that Lille has sold players worth over 250 million euros in the last few years, many of which ended up in the Premier League. We remember that Nicolas Pépé and Gabriel went to Arsenal for 80 million and 26 million euros, respectively, Yves Bissouma to Brighton for 17 million.
However, in December last year, the owner Gérard López and sports director Luís Campos, who put the club on its feet, left and were replaced by the investment fund Merlyn Partners, allegedly due to large debts.
In any case, Lille expects a minimum income of 150 million euros from the upcoming transfer window for only the five mentioned players. And that figure can be even higher because several other football players from the 2020/21 squad are worth the attention.