Rumour Mongering: Reds Battle Arsenal for Club Brugge Attacker

Talented teenage forward Cyril Ngonge is said to be a top target for both English clubs.

Liverpool and Arsenal have made Club Brugge and Belgium U19 striker Cyril Ngonge a priority and will seek to move for the talented 18-year-old attacker before he attracts even more interest in Europe.

So says The Mirror’s Arsenal-connected John Cross, who claims both sides have been tracking Ngonge for some time now but are concerned that he has been starting to attract attention from others.

Ngonge has been a regular for Brugge in the UEFA youth Champions League, scoring four times in four appearances with scouts from the likes of Atletico Madrid, Inter Milan, and Dortmund in attendance.

For their part, Brugge are said to want to hold on to the talented youngster and see him break through to their first team rather than selling him in the short term, though they will need to get him on a new deal soon.

The player’s current youth deal runs only through next summer, meaning that if he doesn’t sign a new contract with his current club they will risk losing him for an arbitrated—and likely low—compensation fee.

While the English FA seek to award compensation in line with a youth player’s perceived value if he changes clubs, inter-association compensation is set by UEFA, and they have historically been less generous.

Source: liverpooloffside.sbnation.com