Over the course of the past few months, Niels Nkounkou cannot stop making headlines in France on loan from Everton.
The defender has been in fine form ever since he decided to move to Saint-Etienne after cutting short a previous loan with Cardiff, earning himself great praise in the process.
There has since been talk of an option to buy being included in the deal, and journalist Denis Balbir has urged the Ligue 2 side to trigger it, relayed by Peuple Vert.
He said: “When you see the extraordinary game he did again against Paris FC, there’s only one desire: quickly lift the option to buy of Niels Nkounkou. He’s the player Saint-Etienne needed! There had been a lot of moaning about the weakness of that role.
“Now, we have someone who’s both a good defender and excellent on the counter attack as well as rather incredible statistics for goals and assists. Even if there’s a need to be calm, it’s an affair the club will have to accelerate.”
He then goes on to explain that, at this rate, the Everton man will have a lot of offers in the summer, meaning they will need to act quickly if they want to keep him.
As for how realistic that is, Peuple Vert reckon the €2.5m or so option to buy could be tempting for both the club and the player, who could like the idea of staying a whole year at the club.
The issue then would be to have the money to make the move permanent from Everton, but also take in charge his wages, which ‘isn’t the easiest’.
