For years, people have critiqued the French Ligue 1 as being a ‘development league’ and a place for players to come through at. And while that might be true to an extent, it’s also an exceptionally high quality league. Only thing that you need to look at with the French top flight is the number of young players who have become genuine stars in their time in Ligue 1.

The latest name who appears to have intense interest in him is Boubakary Soumare. The holding midfielder has become a really interesting player for most Premier League clubs. The Frenchman has all the combative skills needed to succeed in England, but a passing accuracy just short of 90% in the league also shows a player who does not waste the ball very often at all.

He’s a strong tackler, too, and excels at winning the ball back. With very impressive performances in midfield for Lille this year, he’s been linked with a host of clubs in England. One club who is likely to move for him is Liverpool, who are seemingly interested in adding more depth to the middle of the park. While many clubs have moved for Soumare, Liverpool are one being linked the most doggedly.

Interestingly, though, the COVID-19 outbreak is very likely to have some kind of impact on transfer fees. Despite being listed as a player worth in excess of €40m just a few short weeks ago, it’s now expected that the financial disparity that has taken place across football will likely mean that the midfielder moves for around €25m instead.

For now, though, we expect more Premier League teams to be linked with one of the most impressive midfielders in the French league. Given the number of talents to come from that league, can anyone really be surprised?