It was being reported yesterday evening that Brighton and Hove Albion and manager Chris Hughton were targeting Lille midfielder Yves Bissouma.
Bissouma is a 20-year-old Mali international and Sky Sports reported on rumours in France that Brighton were keen to bring the youngster to the Amex Stadium, and having opened talk with Ligue 1 side Lille, we were close to agreeing a deal for him.
That deal was said to be in the region of around the £17.7million mark.
Sky, however, suggested that this was not what their sources were telling them.
The outlet had already linked the player with a possible move to either Tottenham Hotspur or Everton earlier this summer, and there was speculation that Fulham were interested in him prior to their capture of Jean Michael Seri from Nice earlier this week.
With Sky’s statement they understood ‘that is not the case’ in relation to Brighton, the questions to be asked are:
A – our interest in him full stop?
B – a deal close to being agreed?
C – the fee of £17.7million not being accurate.
Unfortunately, the report doesn’t answer those questions with any clarity, although I’m assuming from the opening paragraph which states ‘Brighton are in talks with Lille over a deal to sign Yves Bissouma, Sky Sports News understands’ that the likelihood is, they mean no fee has been agreed and a move isn’t yet close.
I can only find basic statistics for the young lad, but it appears he signed professional terms with Lille in the summer of 2016 and since then he’s made 22 starting appearances for them, with a further 27 showings from the bench. In that time he has scored four times.
He does have 15 caps to his name for Mali though with a return of three further goals.
The fee still seems incredibly high for those stats, although for his age they are quite impressive – especially the goal return. One to watch for sure in case greater details are announced.