Reported Wolves target Renato Sanches could be sold by Lille next month, as the club attempt to ease their worrying financial situation.
As reported by Get French Football News, the Ligue 1 outfit are in a spot of bother at the moment, with debts somewhere between €130 million/£117.5 million and €200 million/£180 million.
Lille’s President and majority stakeholder Gerard Lopez is said to have met the club’s main funder Elliott Management regarding the situation.
Supposedly a January fire-sale initiative has been presented to French football’s financial watchdog the DNCG.
Apparently Lille had wanted to sell six players during the last transfer window, but the struggles brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic saw them offload just two – Victor Osimhen to Napoli and Gabriel to Arsenal.
MORE WOLVES STORIES
According to GFFN: “The reason for the urgency on the part of Elliott Management is that the loans that Lopez received from them for Lille were due to be paid back by August 2021, and in the current climate, the club is projected to make far less money in 2020/21 than they initially claimed they would.”
La Voix Du Nord state that midfielder Sanches’ exit from the club should no longer be excluded.
The 23-year-old asset was recently reported to have ‘entered the crosshairs’ of Nuno Espirito Santo (Calciomercato).
Sanches worth looking into
Lille’s financial situation is described as ‘majorly dire’, and that would suggest big pressure to cash in on assets.
There may, therefore, be a transfer opportunity for Wolves over Sanches, who has played a key role in the club’s surge to the top of the table.
He infamously struggled at Swansea City, but he’s been getting back on track over in France and still has frightening potential – Wolves and their Portuguese contingent could be the ideal environment for him.
Arguably, Nuno could do with another option in central midfield, as one wonders about Joao Moutinho’s age and fitness in such a hectic season.