Player claims Everton and Aston Villa have been keen on him, choosing ‘better project’

Samuel Bastien has returned to Belgian football, having spent some time with Chievo Verona in Italy.

The 21 year old is signing for Standard Liege but has told the Belgian media there was interest from English, Turkish, and French clubs, which would make one wonder why he didn’t end up elsewhere.

Speaking to Het Belang van Limburg, the 21 year old midfielder said: “Clubs like Everton, Aston Villa, Nice and Galatasaray knocked on Chievo’s door. But Standard’s interest was the most concrete and I thought this project was the best… in my opinion it’s the biggest club in the country.”

Bastien was previously linked with Liverpool, earlier in his career, and talked that up too: “That interest was very serious, I thought about that but I still played at Avellino in Serie B. The step would have been way too big. Regret? No, never.”

Aston Villa have been previously linked with Bastien, although he makes the interest sound like it’s recent so it may have returned.

Everton may well have scouted Bastien when he was coming through at Anderlecht, with the Toffees keeping an interest in Belgian football, and continued their interest from there.