Marseille to lure Nigeria’s Golden Boy to France

The Ligue 1 giants are rebuilding ahead of the 2021/22 season and have identified one of Nigeria’s precocious talents as being crucial to that effort

Olympique de Marseille have reportedly made contact with Villarreal towards signing exciting Nigerian forward Samuel Chukwueze.

It would be a massive coup for the French side to capture Chukwueze, who has been firmly on the radar of Liverpool, Chelsea, and Real Madrid at various stages of his development.

But Marseille are not giving up on their chase for the flying winger, hoping that a tempting offer could convince Villarreal to part with the youngster.

According to Spanish publication Todo Fichajes, Marseille will offer the player more first-team chances while allowing Villarreal to insert a buy-back clause in his contract.

And led by Technical Director Pablo Longoria, formerly a top official at Valencia, Marseille are confident they can strike a deal for Chukwueze.

It would be hard, though, for Villarreal to let a player who played a dominant role in their triumphant journey to Europa League glory last month depart the Estadio de la Ceramica on the cheap.

Currently valued at €20 million, but with a release clause of €100 million, the 22-year-old has a contract with the Yellow Submarines until the summer of 2023.

A 2019 UEFA Golden Boy, Chukwueze would cost any would-be suitor twice his current value to take him off the fingers of the Spanish side.