Over the past couple of days, there have been a number of reports emerging from France regarding Paris Saint-Germain’s interest in Watford’s Abdoulaye Doucouré.
Making it clear he wants a new defensive midfielder, since neither Adrien Rabiot nor Marco Verratti fit the bill, Thomas Tuchel has apparently set his sights on the Hornets’ man, but he’ll be expensive.
First of all, it’s worth pointing out the first mention of this story came from Foot Mercato in France, who simply reported the German manager was still keen on Doucouré, without going much further.
A day later, RMC Sport came forward with their own version of the story, which repeats much of the same, while adding a bit more detail.
The interest dates back to the summer, when Antero Henrique reportedly got in touch with Watford, but ‘neither the timing nor the price’ allowed Paris Saint-Germain to move any further in the deal.
The Hornets were said to be asking between €30-40m for their star midfielder, and while that put the Ligue 1 champions off at the time, they haven’t given up on their target.
RMC explain Jaime Teixeira, Antero Henrique’s right hand man, has remained in contact with both Doucouré’s entourage and Watford, who are still aware of the interest.
As things stand, Paris Saint-Germain are ‘thinking about making an offer’ in January for the player who renewed his contract at Vicarage Road until 2023, but the interest from various Premier League sides has pushed the price up to closer to €40m.
Despite this, Watford are described as ‘willing to sell’ at the right price, while Doucouré ‘isn’t immune’ to the French side’s interest.
RMC believe the Ligue 1 leaders have prepared a ‘€30m envelope’ to convince the Premier League side amid FFP investigation.
We’ll have to wait and see if that’s enough.
