On Thursday, French newspaper L’Equipe reported that Stade Rennais winger and #Le50 alumni, Paul-Georges Ntep has visited Liverpool’s Melwood training ground twice in the last 10 days. Similar to how the Liverpool scouts were taken by the 22-year-old’s ability, he was suitably impressed with the infrastructure of the club, and a summer bid for the player could follow. With two years still left on Ntep’s contract, it would probably take a bid well in excess of €10 million to secure the services of one of Ligue 1 brightest talents.
What could Liverpool fans expect to see should a bid be successful? Ntep is at his best when patrolling the left-wing, with electric pace, a bag of tricks and supreme confidence to the “nth” degree. He is a very dangerous prospect.
Rennes pulled off quite a coup in January 2014 when they secured the services of Ntep from Ligue 2 side Auxerre. With a number of big clubs – especially in England – scouting the winger, Ntep chose to stay in France in order to make the step up to the top flight.
This has been Ntep’s first full season in Ligue 1 and largely it has been a success. With nine goals and six assists to his name so far, it perhaps doesn’t quite fully show what he has brought to the Breton club. On his day he is an undoubted match-winner, with the performances in games against Monaco, Lille and Lens real standout games this season.
He has a knack for scoring a spectacular goal – see his effort against Lens for the best example of this. Ntep has really grown as a team player this season. His partnership with Abdoulaye Doucoure has been one of the highlights of a slightly indifferent season for Rennes.
After a well-documented argument in training with his coach, Philippe Montanier, earlier in the season, Ntep has gone on record to identify he has a short fuse and at times can be a little selfish on the pitch. Since that though, credit must be given to the player as he has worked hard to keep these negative attributes under wraps. There are still times when he tries to take on too much on his own, and he can sometimes go missing in games, but there is no doubt that when he is at the top of his game, there are not many more exciting players to watch in France.
England has always seemed to be Ntep’s ultimate destination but his performances this season has seen him go from being linked with the likes of QPR and Stoke City – no disrespect intended – to teams of Liverpool’s calibre. Regardless of who leaves Anfield this summer, Liverpool could do far worse than signing the prodigious talent of Ntep.
I suspect that BR has given up trying to convince Sterling to stay and has decided to cash in on him Ntep could be the ideal replacement.