The race for Vinicius Souza is hotting up tonight with Anthony Joseph tweeting about the options for the Lommel midfielder.Â
Celtic have been credited with a strong interest in Souza but face strong competition with bids on the table from two Spanish clubs.Â
Lommel appear to be angling for a loan deal to inflate the transfer fee, with a contract running until June 2025 they won’t be pushed into a deal that isn’t to their liking.Â
Tonight Joseph tweeted:Â
UPDATE: Espanyol and Real Betis have made loan offers for Lommel SK defensive midfielder Vinicius Souza. City Football Group would prefer a straight loan, with no option-to-buy clause, as they’d rather not sell.Â
On June 25 he had tweeted:Â
UPDATE: Lommel SK have rejected a £4.3m bid from Fenerbahce for in-demand defensive midfielder Vinicius Souza. They’d prefer not to sell the Brazilian but value him at £8m. A host of clubs including Celtic, Ajax, PSV, Bologna and Club Brugge are still interested in a loan.Â
Despite being in the Belgian Second Division Lommel have a hold over the transfer ambitions over a number of significant clubs.Â
As part of the City Football Group Lommel are very well connected within the game with the purpose of identifying, nurturing and ultimately selling players on for profit.Â
If it comes down to sending the player out on loan Celtic’s development of Jota and Cameron Carter-Vickers gives them credibility but both of those deals included options to buy which Lommel seem reluctant to commit to.
CLICK HERE for Souza’s Transfermarkt profile.