Standard Liège promoted Michel-Ange Balikwisha to the senior team last September and the forward has been a regular for the Jupiler Pro League side this season, operating on both of the wings and also playing up front.
The 19-year-old has seven goals and four assists to his name and his performances have caught Brighton & Hove Albion and West Bromwich Albion attention.
According to Le Soir, the young forward is fast, ‘elegant and very skilful technically’, and has caught the eyes of other clubs, particularly from Germany and England.
Only the Seagulls and Sam Allardyce’s side get mentioned as the two Premier League sides ‘closely follow’ the Standard Liège top scorer.
Club Brugge have a ‘great and concrete’ interest in the teenager and even made contact with Standard Liège a few days ago to get permission to hold talks with the player.
Despite Club Brugge’s desire to sign Balikwisha, the versatile attacker is ‘not very keen’ on joining them. he wants to have more minutes to continue his development, which he can easily achieve with his current employer.
The player’s current deal expires in 2023 and a few months ago, Standard Liège tried to further extend his contract.
However, they were unsuccessful in ‘finding the common ground’ over a renewal with his entourage because there is ‘no urgency’ from Balikwisha’s part to commit his long-term future to Standard Liège.
Brighton and West Brom are only monitoring Balikwisha’s performance and it remains to be seen whether it will be converted into a concrete interest and/or an offer.
