Speaking to RMC Sport, Montpellier President Laurent Nicollin said that he believes that Elye Wahi (20) would be worth up to €60m if he played for either Olympique de Marseille or Olympique Lyonnais, whilst also confirming the existence of Chelsea’s opening offer and contact with Tottenham Hotspur.
Wahi is currently a priority target for Chelsea, however, as initially reported by L’Équipe, the Premier League side’s opening offer, thought to be worth €27.5m, was rejected by Les Héraults. Nicollin has confirmed the existence of an opening offer and added that he expects Chelsea to return with an improved bid.
“For now, there isn’t anything new. There are offers, but we expect more offers for Wahi. It is true that we’ve had just one official offer up to now, from Chelsea, which came last Monday or Tuesday. We responded by saying thank you but said that it wasn’t an offer that suits us, so we’re waiting,” said Nicollin to RMC Sport.
Nicollin revealed that Tottenham Hotspur’s chief scout had made contact over the weekend, whilst Benfica, who are resigned to losing Gonçalo Ramos to Paris Saint-Germain, are also interested.
Wahi scored 19 goals in 33 Ligue 1 games last season, and given the France youth international’s age, Nicollin questioned the player’s low market valuation. Using the valuation of Bradley Barcola, for whom Lyon are reportedly demanding €50m, as well as Lesley Ugochukwu, who recently joined Chelsea from Stade Rennais for €27m, as references, Nicollin said, “We have a player that played three full seasons, who has scored more than 30 or 40 goals and who has enormous attacking potential, but we’re just Montpellier, we’re maybe not valued like Lyon or Rennes. You won’t take my head off if I say that if Elye Wahi was a centre-forward at Lyon or Marseille, he’d be worth €50-60m,” he said.
Nicollin said that a valuation has been set for Wahi, without revealing it, and said that if that valuation is met then he will let the player go. He added that no deadline has been set for the France U21 international’s departure.
GFFN | Luke Entwistle
