Watford
Everton and Fulham are chasing Watford star Imrân Louza for the summer.
The France-born Morocco international’s form for Watford have seen Everton, Fulham and several other clubs take notice.
Last November, the 26-year-old talked about his desire to leave Watford in the winter market or the summer. He also said the Hornets are aware of his transfer wish.
A move never took shape in January, meaning he could change clubs after this season. The midfielder has starred for the Championship side this season, managing seven goals and 10 assists.
His Championship stats this season are as follows:
Appearances: 38
Starts: 38
Total minutes: 3,280
Minutes per game: 86
Goals: 7
Assists: 9
Big chances created: 9
Big chances missed: 3
Interceptions per game: 1.0
Tackles per game: 1.4
Ball recovered per game: 6.0
Clearances per game: 0.7
Duels won per game: 4.0
Last week, Sport Witness covered claims from France that two unnamed Premier League sides made contact.
Everton and Fulham don’t want to pay £15m
Africa Foot now pick up on that and name the Toffees and Marco Silva’s side as his suitors from England. It’s quite possible these two clubs would have made approaches for him.
Watford seem to be aware it would be difficult to retain the player who has already talked about his transfer wish.
Edward Still’s side have set a non-negotiable price of £15m [€17.2m] for Imrân Louza and plan to use these funds to improve their squad for next season.
This is excessive for Everton and Fulham as the two clubs would be looking for a discount from Watford. That isn’t the case for Al-Ittihad and Al Qadsiah FC as the Saudi Arabian clubs are willing to meet the Hornets’ demand.
However, the player says no to moving to the Middle East. He is prioritising staying in Europe and specifically moving to the Premier League. This gives David Moyes’ side and Fulham encouragement to sign him for a fee less than £15m.
For now, there’s a clash between Watford’s demand and the Moroccan’s personal wish for the summer and it’ll be interesting to see who will give up first.
Contract, value and agent info
Imrân Louza will have two years left on his contract after this season and Transfermarkt now value him at €14m, the highest so far in his career.
P&P Sport Management, owned by agent Federico Pastorello, are taking care of his future and interest.