Celtic and Valencia have been linked with an interest in Fulham’s Tyrese Francois.
The two clubs will meet up in the Europa League on February 14 and 21 but are also likely to do battle over the future of Francois.
The 18-year-old midfielder is out of contract at the end of the season and able to move to a non-English club on a cut price ‘cross-border’ deal.
According to the Sky Sports Transfer Blog:
Fulham teenager Tyrese Francois is the latest Premier League academy player to attract interest from overseas – with Valenciahoping to sign him on a free this summer, according to Sky sources.
The 18-year-old midfielder is likely to be offered a new contract by Fulham when his current two-year deal ends in June.
Valencia are confident of enticing the youngster to La Liga, but will face competition from British clubs.
Crystal Palace and Celtic are also aware of Francois, who has been operating in numerous positions across midfield for Fulham’s Premier League 2 side.
As recently as last summer Celtic signed Armstrong Oko-Flex from Arsenal on a cut price deal with Kundai Benyu signed from Ipswich Town on the same basis a year earlier.
The star turn however was the signing of Moussa Dembele for £500,000 in the summer of 2016, two years later he was sold to Lyon for £20m after helping Celtic to secure six successive trophies and two appearances in the group phase of the Champions League.
Brendan Rodgers has shown with Patrick Roberts, Filip Benkovic and home-grown talents such as James Forrest and Callum McGregor that he can accelerate the development of young players by providing first team exposure.
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