Thursday, 16th June, 2011
The race for Lille forward Gervinho is hotting up after the French club appeared to accept defeat in their bid to keep hold of the Ivory Coast international.
Several sides are interested in Gervinho, but the player prefers a move to the English Premier League, a fact which puts clubs from across the channel in pole position.
And the English sides holding an interest in Gervinho are Arsenal, Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United.
At present Arsenal appear the furthest down the path of signing the forward, with Lille’s assistant general manager Frederic Paquet admitting "we will talk to Arsenal" to L’Equipe.
Further reports from France suggest that Tottenham Hotspur have already had a €12M bid for Gervinho turned down as Lille look for a minimum of €15M.
And Manchester City cannot be ruled out of the race.
The Eastlands outfit have, according to La Voix du Nord, been keen to communicate that they can and will better any offer on the table from a rival club.
Newcastle too have not yet given up on the forward, but there is an acceptance that Alan Pardew’s side remain outsiders in the race for his signature despite already having signed Gervinho’s former Lille team-mate Yohan Cabaye.
Indeed, it is Cabaye himself who has pushed the case for a swoop for Gervinho since arriving on Tyneside.
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