While everyone has been talking about Nicolas Pépé and Jonathan Bamba, another Lille player has been catching the eye of Ligue 1 viewers: Zeki Çelik.
The Turkish full-back has been galavanting up and down the French club’s right hand side all season long, picking up four assists in 20 league appearances, and has now attracted the attention of Cardiff City.
According to Le10 Sport, the Bluebirds have gone as far as offering €9m for the 21-year-old, although Lille turned it down since they’ve set the price tag a little bit higher.
During the talks, the Ligue 1 side offered Cardiff City the chance to sign Loïc Rémy on loan until the end of the season, keen to get his salary off their wage bill.
The idea here would be to sell Çelik for the price they want to get for him as well as offload the French striker on Cardiff City in a double move.
The Premier League side are said to be currently ‘studying’ the opportunity, most likely aware they aren’t exactly blessed with time with the transfer window shutting in just over 24 hours.
We’d be surprised if Lille do part ways with their right-back midway through the season, but having signed him for just over £2m from Istanbulspor in the summer, getting over £10m for him six months later would be a great profit, and one they might not be able to ignore.
