Leeds United, Norwich City and Blackburn Rovers are chasing Royal Antwerp’s Mandela Keita, according to Het Nieuwsblad.
The Jupiler Pro League side signed the 20-year-old on loan from OH Leuven in the winter market. He struggled for regular game time at Leuven, which resulted in the midfielder’s move to Antwerp in the last window.
Keita’s situation has improved this year as he’s been a regular for Antwerp, making nine league starts.
The Belgium U21 international’s quick adaptation and impressive displays for Antwerp has helped him draw attention from Leeds, Norwich and Blackburn Rovers. It’s explained the English trio are ‘closely following’ him.
Antwerp have an option to make the player’s loan stay permanent by paying €10m to the Belgian club. To do this, the report adds they must also ‘find an agreement’ with the defensive midfielder, which hasn’t happened so far.
Journalist David Van den Broeck covered the report and he took to Twitter to add that Leeds, Norwich and Blackburn Rovers have ‘already enquired’ about Keita.
Enkele Engelse clubs volgen Mandela Keita op de voet. Leeds, Blackburn en Norwich informeerden al naar de Belgische middenvelder. #antwerp kan de pittige aankoopoptie (10M) wel nog lichten als het met de #ohl-huurling een akkoord vindt, maar gesprekken daarover moeten nog komen.
— David Van den Broeck (@david_vdb) April 12, 2023
If one of these three clubs show firm desire to pay well over €10m for Keita, Antwerp could decide to exercise the purchase option and immediately cash in from his sale in the summer. This would only be possible if the Belgian side find an agreement with the player.
