Last summer, Lille knew they would have to sell one of their most valuable assets in Nicolas Pépé, fully aware they had managed to get the best out of him and that keeping him any longer could cost them valuable money if he wasn’t able to repeat his form.
Despite that, they didn’t want to weaken their squad too much, which is why they fought hard to keep Jonathan Ikoné for an extra season.
However, this summer could be different when it comes to the young French forward, as he remains one of their most valuable assets (alongside Victor Osimhen), especially with clubs like Everton and Manchester United circling.
According to Le Foot in France, both Carlo Ancelotti’s and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s sides are ‘following him closely’, although they would have to considerably open up their chequebooks if they wanted to land him.
Much like they did with Pépé, Lille aren’t going to let a prized asset go for peanuts, as they made it clear they wanted €70m for Ikoné when Lyon came knocking last summer, and with a similar form under his belt this year, we doubt things will have changed much.
You would expect Manchester United and Everton to need to fork out a similar amount if they were to convince the Ligue 1 side, who currently have the 21-year-old under contract until 2023.
Selling him for €70m would represent a considerable profit for Lille, who only paid Paris Saint-Germain £4.5m for him back in the summer of 2018.
