Liverpool and Manchester City are set to fight it out for cut-price transfer target Aster Vranckx, who could be available for just £1.5 million.
The Belgian teenager has made his debut for KV Mechelen and has impressed during his limited minutes in the Jupiler Pro League.
Ordinarily a starlet like this wouldn’t be sold for such a low number, especially as Eredivisie side Feyenoord and Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich have also watched the 17-year-old.
But the losses suffered due to the COVID-19 crisis mean that Mechelen might be forced to sell their best assets for a cut-price, which means Liverpool might be able to snag themselves a bargain.
Manchester City have also watched Aster Vranchx, said the Mirror, who had broken through into the first team by the time coronavirus caused the Belgian top flight to be abandoned. He started all five of the last games and completed 90 minutes in four of them, scoring one goal and creating an assist.
According to the report, Liverpool have watched the midfielder since he was 16 and will have been aware of the progress the youngster was making before he burst onto the scene.
Leighton Clarkson has been impressive for Barry Lewtas’s U18 side as well as for the U23 lads, but that doesn’t mean Michael Edwards and the youth scouts are looking for foreign players to compliment the youth ranks.
Vranchx could be that man, and his presence in the middle of the park helped Mechelen win three games in a row by an aggregate score of 9-0. Anderlecht were beat 2-0, Waasland-Beveren were hammered 4-0 and then Sint-Truidense got beat 3-0 at home.
A fee of £1.5 million represents excellent value for money, especially when we’ve seen Brazilian players being sold for 10 times that amount after only flashes of excellence with their senior sides.
There’s not much to lose here, and Liverpool could end up making a healthy profit.