Leicester City’s Wilfred Ndidi has shone in England; now Jurgen Klopp and Jose Mourinho reportedly want his young rival, Eduardo Camavinga from Rennes.
Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool target, Eduardo Camavinga is ‘clearly’ a better talent than Leicester City powerhouse, Wilfred Ndidi, Lionel Charbonnier told FootRadio.
Is there a better defensive midfielder in the Premier League right now than the Foxes’ number 25? Fabinho, Rodri and N’Golo Kante might have something to say about that, but Ndidi looks a shoo-in for the Premier League Team of the Year after a series of irrepressible performances at the heart of Brendan Rodgers’ engine room.
So it looked fanciful, at least on paper, to suggest that a 17-year-old who had only been playing first-team football for about 12 months is a mile ahead.
But Camavinga is no ordinary 17-year-old.
After a quite remarkable debut season for Ligue 1 outfit Rennes, Sport claimed that Liverpool was desperate to add the £46 million-rated teenager to Jurgen Klopp’s star-studded squad.
Tottenham could make a move too, with Jose Mourinho crying out for a hard working ‘positional midfielder’, a la Nemanja Matic or Claude Makelele.
PSG had also been linked with both Camavinga and Ndidi although, according to Charbonnier, one is clearly a better option than the other for the French champions.
“Wilfred Ndidi for PSG, I’m not too much of a fan of the idea,” said the former France international goalkeeper, in quotes translated by Foot Radio.
“For PSG, Camavinga is necessary, even if he will cost £60m. He has an Ndidi in each leg. He is clearly better.”
Camavinga shot to fame with a Man of the Match performance against PSG in August, putting the icing on the cake with a glorious assist for Rennes’ second-half winner.
He also averaged a remarkable 4.2 tackles per game in Ligue 1; a tally better than anyone in Liverpool or Tottenham’s squad.