Whilst it’s never nice to watch any football club go into financial turmoil, the current issues at French club Lille could hand Liverpool a major transfer boost ahead of the January window.
The Ligue 1 side, regularly among the top teams in the country, are facing huge uncertainty as their president Gérard Lopez has been forced out with reported debts amounting to between €130m and €200m (£117m-£180m).
As ever in football, one club’s crisis tends to be another’s opportunity, and a host of Lille’s star names have already been raised as possible cash cows as the club looks to get back on a stable footing.
Liverpool haven’t been without mention as the Reds have previously held an interest in at least two Lille players – most recently, 23-year-old midfielder Renato Sanches was touted as the ideal replacement for Gini Wijnadlum.
Le10 Sport, the publication linking Sanches with an Anfield switch, also suggested that Jurgen Klopp was keen on 21-year-old midfield enforcer Boubakary Soumaré during the summer.
Klopp’s squad is currently experiencing a dearth of centre-back options and one player stands out as a potential option, Sven Botman. The Dutch 20-year-old has an impressive rating of 7.3 from Sofascore – better than Virgil van Dijk’s average from last season.
The Reds are widely renowned as shrewd operators in the transfer market, with Michael Edwards heralded as one of the best in the business when it comes to negotiating a bargain. It would therefore be no surprise if Liverpool stand to gain from a potential cut-price sale.
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To take advantage of a financial crisis at a club certainly has a vulture aspect to it; but if it wasn’t Liverpool seeking to pounce, it would simply be somebody else.
Lille currently sit top of Ligue 1 despite their off-field problems, and in the fullness of time, there may be no need for a fire sale in the north of France just yet.
