Finishing the Ligue 1 season strongly under new manager Frédéric Antonetti, Lille are, as most French clubs tend to do, having to rebalance their books before the start of the new season.
Already letting quite a few people go to reduce their wage bill, the northern club have also added a much needed striker to their squad in Swansea’s Eder, who had spent the last six months of the previous season on loan with them.
Still needing some money to pass the financial requirements set by the LFP (Ligue de Football Professionel), Lille will have to sell a couple more players, with those likely sacrifices being right-back Djibril Sidibé and left-winger Sofiane Boufal.
The latter of the two has been strongly linked with moves to the Premier League all season, as well as with Barcelona in recent weeks, while the former has made it clear he wants to play for France at the 2018 World Cup, and a change of scenery would probably be in his best interests.
According to L’Equipe, Southampton, currently without a manager, are strongly interested in the pair, as Claude Puel, who managed Lille between 2002-08, the new favourite to succeed Ronald Koeman.
Managing Nice to an impressive 4th place last year, as well as rejuvenating Hatem Ben Arfa’s career, the French manager didn’t renew his contract with the club, and is now available to all.
Boufal is currently recuperating from a knee injury that could see him miss out on most of pre-season.
Both impressing last season, and with a French manager possibly taking over, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Southampton get at least one of the two before the start of the new Premier League term.
