Nicolas Nkoulou is saying goodbye to Torino with the reported Leeds United transfer target now a free agent, as reported by Corriere Torino.
Having turned 31 in March, the veteran Cameroon international might have thought that the chance to reunite with Marcelo Bielsa had passed him by.
The Leeds manager prefers young players ripe for moulding after all; exuberance over experience.
Nkoulou, however, is a player Bielsa knows and, more importantly, a player Bielsa trusts.
With Gaetano Berardi’s departure opening up a space for a new central defender, could the former Marseille stopper be gasping his way through those dreaded ‘murderball’ sessions again at Thorpe Arch?
Tuttosport claimed in March that Bielsa, a man as loyal as he is demanding, would love to work with Nkoulou again.
And what Bielsa wants, Bielsa very often gets.
The former Lyon and Monaco man will be a free agent in July and, after Torino dodged relegation by the skin of their teeth, Nkoulou is departing the Granata with his head held high.
“I gave my best, everything I had for Torino,” Nkoulou told BeIN Sports.
“Now I’m at the end of the contract. My ears are tense, my eyes open. I am waiting for new offers to find out where I will play.”
Nkoulou has also been linked with a return to Marseille, admitting that he is ‘flattered’ by interest from the Ligue 1 giants.
With Jorge Sampaoli now at the helm at the Stade Velodrome, Bielsa may be forced to do battle with one of his most vehement disciples for Nkoulou’s signature.
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