Burnley, Everton and Liverpool are keen on PSV Eindhoven star Johan Bakayoko but one Eredivisie legend feels a move to the Premier League would come too soon.
Jurgen Klopp’s side snapped up Bakayoko’s former PSV team-mate Cody Gakpo in January and, after a sluggish start, the Dutch international is beginning to prove his worth on the red half of Merseyside.
But while Gakpo arrived at Liverpool with a few seasons of regular first-team football under his belt, Bakayoko would put pen to paper at a very different stage of his development.
The Belgian flyer has not even made 30 Eredivisie appearances in PSV colours. And Wim Kieft, who won the European cup with the Eindhoven outfit in 1988, believes that Bakayoko still has a long way to go before he is worthy of following in Gakpo’s footsteps, either at Liverpool or at another English-based side.
Liverpool move too soon for PSV star Johan Bakayoko
“Why (sign him) now?,” Kieft asks, writing in his De Telegraaf column. “Because you think you can pick him up now for 20 or 25 million euros rather than 60 million euros in two years?”
“Bakayoko has qualities as a right winger. But, in the Premier League, something different is asked than against FC Utrecht or Sturm Graz.
“Liverpool at this stage of his career…”
According to Fabrizio Romano and Belgian reporter Sacha Tavolieri, there is interest from Burnley and Everton in the 20-year-old speed demon.
Everton’s top target, however, remains Leeds United’s Wilfried Gnonto.
Liverpool have reportedly enquired about Bakayoko too, though a move to Anfield would see a talented but still-unproven attacker face competition from Mo Salah, Luis Diaz, Diogo Jota and the aforementioned Gakpo.
This is, however, not the first time Bakayoko has caught the eye of a European giant.
“I didn’t find it very surprising that PSG wanted me,” a confident Bakayoko told ELF Voetbal; the Ligue 1 champions failing with a £7 million January bid.
“I may not have been very well known to the general public before the World Cup. But I know what I can do and also where my qualities lie.”
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