Chelsea are tracking highly-rated Anderlecht youngster Rayane Bounida, the latest rising star from Belgian football.
That’s according to Ajax scout Urbain Haesaert, who has predicted a bright future for the 14-year-old starlet.
Anderlecht’s academy is seen as one of the best in Europe with a plethora of current stars in the world game having enjoyed their breakthroughs there.
Indeed, it is something Chelsea are more than aware of, having paid £13.5m to sign Romelu Lukaku from the club in 2011.
That is seemingly continuing, with a new generation of young talent impressing and earning admiring glances from around Europe.
One of those 14-year-old Rayane Bounida, the young attacking midfielder who is ‘considered the upcoming talent’ according to Sporza.
They’ve ‘gone in search of the secrets’ of Anderlecht’s academy, and that meant they ‘could not ignore’ Bounida, a young attacking midfielder whom they explain has already won ‘several individual awards‘ as well as securing a contract with Nike and amassing over 300,000 followers on Instagram.
Their efforts saw them interview several people about the system and one of those was Urbain Haesaert, Anderlecht’s former head scout.
He’s currently working as a scout for Dutch giants Ajax and, while sharing his admiration for Bounida, also revealed the others interested in him.
“He is a top European player. He is an incredibly good player, who has all the necessary qualities,” he told the website.
“He sees it all and is always free, the assumption is perfect, left- and right-footed no problem.
“He has an immediate action, he frees himself with a very short turn, and he plays deeper as soon as he can. He speeds up the game. He doesn’t dribble to dribble.”
“He is so strong both technically and tactically. Of course (Ajax want him). But who doesn’t: Barcelona, Manchester, Chelsea, everyone wants Rayane Bounida.”
Haesaert is clearly a fan, and his assessment is one shared by those at Anderlecht with the head of the youth academy Jean Kindermans also sharing his impressions.
“Rayane is an exceptionally good football player. I’ve been in the business for 15 years, and I’ve seen few of that level,” he added.
“With Rayane, it will mainly be: keep his feet on the ground, there is still a long way to go.
“Football-wise we can hardly teach the boy anything anymore. There are other aspects of football in which he still has to take steps.”
Those are words that are only likely to strengthen the interest from the big clubs, including Chelsea, in securing Bounida’s signature.
It’s no surprise to see the Blues linked with the player, even if he is just 14, with them having spent the best part of the last two decades hoovering up young talent around Europe.
It’s well established how full of talent their youth ranks are and it seems the club have no intention of slowing that down moving forward.
