Player expected to sign five-year Brighton contract ‘today’ – Has already ‘passed first part’ of medical
When Brighton & Hove Albion agreed to sell Moises Caicedo to Chelsea, the Seagulls were always going to need a replacement.
While they could have added a player with experience to ensure they weren’t losing too much in the heart of their midfield, the Premier League club decided to follow their tried and trusted approach of signing young, exciting talent and went after Lille’s Carlos Baleba.
L’Equipe have an article on Brighton’s pursuit of the 19-year-old, for whom a fee of €27m + €3m (and more than 15% of any future profit) was agreed, with the player travelling on Monday.
It’s explained the midfielder ‘passed the first part’ of his medical on Monday, and should ‘sign today a contract for five years’, suggesting he will do so after the second half of his medical.
This agreement came after three previous bid had been made by Brighton, with the first starting at €17m + €3m, followed by a slightly improved one soon after.
However, that wasn’t enough, and a bid of €25m + €5m was then made, also rejected, but enough to start ‘serious negotiations’.
That’s when the two sides agreed on the €27m + €3m deal on Monday, which is considered a lot for a player who only has six starts in Ligue 1 to his name.
However, much like the €40m bid made by Everton last season for Amadou Onana, this was simply too good to refuse.
BLUES EYEING UP MOVE FOR IN-DEMAND BRIGHTON STRIKER
He states the 24-year-old is interested in the project and Leicester and Southampton are also in the running to capture his signature.
With suitors also in France, meetings are scheduled over the coming days and a final decision from all parties is expected later this week.
The Swiss man has only made 9 appearances for his parent club before his two loan stints at FC Augsburg and Basel where he made 22 and 30 appearances respectively.
The most recent move has been his most successful in terms of goal ratio whereby he netted 11 times in 30 games for the Switzerland based side.
Zeqiri pledged his international career to Switzerland after he was named in Switzerland’s 29-man preliminary squad for Euro 2020 on 19 May 2021, this also being his first call-up for them.
Although he’s not proven in England, he is certainly gaining a lot of interest over here and Blues will do well to tie him down.
