With the sale of Victor Osimhen to Napoli almost official, Lille will have a big gap to fill at the top of their attack.
The Nigerian exceeded expectations with his performances this season, and less than a year after joining, the 21-year-old is expected to bring the Ligue 1 club a huge profit and a headache.
Replacing him won’t be easy, but one of the profiles being looked at is that of Rangers’ Alfredo Morelos.
The news came from RMC Sport journalist Mohamed Bouhafsi over the weekend, and it has now made its way to L’Equipe, where the newspaper briefly talk about it in an interview Gérard Lopez, Lille’s owner.
They never mention it specifically, but when replying to the question of whether Osimhen’s departure will bring in new forward, the businessman hints at something, and the French newspaper kindly fill in the gaps.
He said: “His departure in itself, no, but as a reconstruction of the strike force, yes, his exit opens avenues. There’s an approach managed by Luis Campos who offers profiles to Christoph Galtier. Where many get it wrong is when you see specific names”.
That’s when L’Equipe point out he’s referring to the Rangers striker, saying Steven Gerrard’s man is ‘in agreement with Lille’, but there is ‘no agreement yet between the club for a €15m transfer’.
Lopez continued: “They think they’ll automatically sign. Even if we’re interested in a profile, it’s only alongside others. We’re changing two forwards. It’s more complex that selling just one player and finding his replacement”.
The owner believes they will build the groundwork over the next two weeks for some deals, and ‘will remain humble’ on the transfer market all the while strengthening their squad.
Whether that means prying Morelos away from Ibrox at Steven Gerrard’s expense, we’ll have to see, but for now, the Colombian firmly remains a Rangers player.
