Surprise leaders of the Jupiler Pro League, Zulte Waregem have one man to thank in particular for their good form: Soualiho Meïté.
And Jürgen Klopp and Ronald Koeman want him.
The 22-year-old midfielder, on loan from Lille in France since February, has been very impressive for the Belgian league leaders, and has attracted a lot of attention from around Europe, including the Premier League.
While the Belgian side don’t actually own the player yet, the inclusion of a €300,000 clause (which they will pay before the 1st of April) in the contract to make the deal permanent pretty much gives them power over his future, and they’re asking for more.
Le Vif state that both Merseyside clubs Liverpool and Everton are interested in the player, with Juventus, Dortmund, Schalke, PSG and West Ham also sniffing around.
The Belgian magazine claim that Zulte would be willing to let him go for around €5-7m, a fee the Anfield and Goodison Park contingents wouldn’t have a problem coming up with.
The big problem is that if Zulte take up the option for €300k before the 1st of April and sell him on straight away i.e. in January, they will only get 30% of the profit, which, for a bid of €5-7m, only stands at €1.41-2.01m.
As Le Vif state, for a club whose annual budget is €12m, it’s not bad, but it’s not great, either.
The club know they will struggle to keep him, with Zulte’s president admitting the prospect of doing so is ‘impossible’, but keeping him as long as possible is certainly a goal of theirs.
See you in January, no doubt.
