Revealed: Liverpool, Milan and Newcastle told Lille’s Botman asking price

Robin Bairner

• 3 Jan 2022 15:37 CST
• 5 min read

Lille centre-back Sven Botman is a player who could be on the move in January, with clubs in England taking an interest in the defender.

Botman is in his second season in Ligue 1 since moving from Ajax. His first campaign was highly successful as he helped Lille to an unexpected title, but this term has been hit by injury issues.

Nevertheless, he remains a coveted player, and with Lille not necessarily against selling because of financial problems at the club, he could make the short hop across the Channel to a Premier League side.

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Liverpool have taken an interested in him in the recent past, but the hottest track presently is Newcastle, a club likely to spend big over the course of the month in a bid to stave off relegation.

Equally, though, there is interest from Italy, too. Milan are looking at the 21-year-old as a solution to plug a hole in their defence created by a long-term injury to Denmark hero Simon Kjaer, who is coincidentally also a former Lille player.

Voetbal International, a Dutch publication, reports that Botman, who has not made his debut for the national team, has had a price tag of €30 million put on his head by Lille.

How much is Botman worth?

According to FootballTransfers’ algorithm, which judges the value of players based on hundreds of data points tracked in matches as well as other factors such as age and contract length, Lille may actually be selling themselves rather short on Botman.

While they are reportedly asking for €30m, FootballTransfers prices the defender around the €42m mark.

Indeed, he is Ligue 1’s second most valuable centre-back, trailing behind only Paris Saint-Germain star Marquinhos.

In addition to his strong performances, the reasons behind this are that he still has more than three years left to run on his contract, while he is also exceptionally young for a top central defender.

Liverpool, Milan or Newcastle would, therefore, be getting a bargain at the price that Lille are willing to sell Botman for.