Vitoria Guimaraes star Ibrahima Bamba is closing in on an £8.5 million move to Qatar after being linked with Premier League duo Aston Villa and Arsenal.
Three weeks ago, Fabrizio Romano wrote on Twitter that one of the brightest young talents in Portuguese football was set to play his final game in Vitoria colours on the final day of the Primeira Liga season away at FC Porto.
“(Ibrahima Bamba is) expected to get a big move this summer,” Romano wrote. “Aston Villa have been tracking him for a long time. There are many clubs keen on Bamba.”
Even the all-seeing, all-knowing Romano, however, may have been taken aback by the news that Bamba is not, after all, bound for England, Italy, Germany or even France.
In a summer dominated by big Saudi Arabian transfers – N’Golo Kante, Ruben Neves, Kalidou Koulibaly and Edouard Mendy following in the footsteps of Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo – Middle Eastern neighbours Qatar are closing in on an eye-catching arrival of their own; albeit with a player at the start of his career rather than at the end of it.
Arsenal and Aston Villa like Ibrahima Bamba
Bamba, A Bola report, is set to join Qatari outfit Al-Duhail for a fee of £8.5 million. The Doha-based club are coached by Argentine legend Hernan Crespo. Bamba, meanwhile, will join former Newcastle United defender Federico Fernandez and ex-Portugal international Ruben Semedo in the Al-Duhail dressing room.
In addition to Aston Villa, Fussball Transfers reported that Arsenal held talks with Bamba’s representatives earlier in the year. So too did a number of Bundesliga clubs.
Though while the 21-year-old’s impending switch to Qatar will inevitably lead to plenty of hand-wringing, it should be pointed out that neither Aston Villa nor Arsenal appeared keen to step up their early interest in the Italy-born playmaker.
Aston Villa signed Youri Tielemans a fortnight ago. Arsenal, meanwhile, are in hot pursuit of fellow midfielders Declan Rice and Romeo Lavia.
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