Brace yourselves, Stoke City fans: your club is trying to sign the new Youri Tielemans.
Well, we say that, but all we know about Halim Timassi is that he’s 16, a central midfielder who can play further forward or deeper if needed, and is currently contracted to Anderlecht.
The young talent, who was due to sign his first professional deal earlier this year, has been a target for the Potters, who even made a proposal, according to Sport/Foot in Belgium, but things just got a bit more complicated.
The reason why Timassi hadn’t put pen to paper was because, under the old ownership, his family didn’t know who to talk to about doing so, but that has now changed since Marc Coucke took over the club recently.
Now that a port of communication has been opened, the offers from Stoke and Inter, who were also keen, will be pushed to one side to prioritise a stay with the Jupiler Pro League side.
In fact, Sport/Foot go as far as saying there’s a good chance Timassi will turn down the chance to move to either bet365 Stadium or San Siro in the near future, and will commit to Anderlecht for the next three years.
Nothing is done yet, so there’s still a chance, but it looks to be slowly slipping away due to a new and improved structure over in Brussels.
