Liverpool have strengthened their lower structure by welcoming promising youngsters such as Trey Nyoni and Rio Ngumoha into the academy. Local players who grew up in the academy from an early age, such as Curtis Jones and Jarell Quansah, are now making their mark in the first team, and the team is improving from the bottom up.
The Merseyside club has no intention of letting up. Liverpool are interested in Ayyoub Bouaddi, a 17-year-old midfielder who plays for LOSC Lille, and could battle it out with Arsenal, Chelsea, AC Milan and Juventus for a contract, according to international media outlet Caught Offside.
The young talent, born in 2007, joined the club’s youth set-up in 2021 and has played in the Ligue 1 and Conference League. He has made 12 appearances so far this season as he gains experience. He has made steady progress in the French league, although he has often been introduced midway through the season.
He has been compared to former Belgian midfielder Eden Hazard, who also came through Lille’s ranks, and the big clubs will not be put off by his potential. Although he plays in a different position to his senior team-mate, he supports the team as a central midfielder, defensive midfielder and sometimes as a centre-back.
He is an excellent game-maker with a wide field of vision, and despite being a teenager, he is calm, cool and able to position himself appropriately. He can also use his length of leg to win the ball, and if he continues to develop at this rate, he may get a call-up to the French national team within a few years.
The paper also reports that he could be available for a relatively cheap fee of between €21 million and €25 million, and it is easy to imagine a future where he steps up to a club abroad before his contract expires in June 2027.
So where will France’s new big guns move to as their next club…?