Will Jose Mourinho really make Boubakary Soumare his first signing since returning to the Premier League with Spurs?
Paris Saint-Germain might just look back in a year or two and wonder whether they should have given their academy the attention it deserves.
Because the list of dazzling young talents who rose through the ranks at the Parc des Princes and departed through the back door reads like a who's who of potential superstars; Matteo Guendouzi, Dan-Axel Zagadou, Kingsley Coman, Moussa Dembele, Jonathan Ikone, Mike Maignan, Odsonne Edouard and Christopher Nkunku.
Their biggest regret of all, however, may be letting go of a player currently plying his trade alongside Ikone and Maigan at Ligue 1 rivals Lille.
Boubakary Soumare, at just 20 years of age, is hurtling towards the top of the European game at breakneck speed.
Jeunes Footeux reports that he is in the sights of new Tottenham Hotspur coach Jose Mourinho. And Lille, after rejecting big money offers from the Premier League over the summer, are willing to sell next year for an eye-watering £43 million (BuzzSport).
That is a lot of money for a player with just 40 first-team league appearances under his belt, but Soumare has shown in his short career to date that he could be worth every penny.
"He's been able to do everything since he was 11, or even before," Zagadou, who played alongside Soumare at PSG before leaving for Borussia Dortmund, told France Football.
“He has always been ahead of the others. He is one of, if not the best midfielder of his generation.”
Soumare has been compared to Paul Pogba, Mourinho’s former Old Trafford nemesis no less, for his ability to dominate a game with poise and power from a very young age. Comparisons will also be made with Arsenal’s poodle-haired playmaker Guendouzi, who has grabbed the Premier League by the scruff of the neck since exploding onto the scene a year ago.
France Football, however, points out that Soumare ‘outclassed’ the Gunners star during their time together in the French capital.
With Soumare potentially set to join Guendouzi in North London, there could soon be another intriguing subplot to the one of England’s fiercest rivalries.
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