As reported by Le10Sport, Premier League side Newcastle United and Bayer Leverkusen of the Bundesliga are fighting over the signing of Sochaux winger Alan Virginius this summer.
The highly-regarded 19-year-old managed five goals and two assists over 31 league outings this season, many of which were as a sub, as Sochaux made the Ligue 2 playoffs before losing out to Auxerre. The young forward has just one year to run on his current deal in France.
A France youth international, Virginius has seen significant interest already this summer after Belgian club Anderlecht had a €7m offer rejected last month with Mainz and Eintracht Frankfurt also interested while Lille and Rennes were monitoring the player at the end of last season.
Newcastle, however, are now ready to spend between €5m and €10m to secure the skilful teenager with Leverkusen ready to directly compete with that offer, say the outlet.
Despite that interest, Virginius has struggled to nail down a starting spot in Ligue 2 over the last two seasons, although he has made 50 senior appearances in that time while tallying five goals in 15 France under 19 internationals so far.
GFFN
