The 17-year-old midfielder has been valued at around €25m after enjoying an excellent breakout season in cash-strapped Ligue 1 with Saint-Etienne

French football is facing a financial crisis this summer.

That statement was true even before the spectre of a Super League loomed large on the horizon, but certainly more money potentially leaving the domestic game will only cause further damage to a number of teams throughout the country’s pyramid system.

The collapse of Ligue 1’s television rights deal with Spanish media company Mediapro around the turn of the year has left a number of clubs throughout the divisions facing up to some hard realities.

Economic issues were always going to arise in the midst of the pandemic, but this has taken things to a new level.

Saint-Etienne are no different from their peers, with the 10-time French champions’ co-presidents, Roland Romeyer and Bernard Caiazzo, having last week confirmed that the club is up for sale.

Costs will need to be cut and money raised, meaning the summer transfer window could see the a fire-sale from a club that built a reputation for producing some of Europe’s best young talents.

Kurt Zouma, Wesley Fofana and William Saliba have all left Les Verts for the Premier League in recent years, and the latest graduate from the club’s academy could be about to follow them.

Lucas Gourna-Douath has emerged this season as one of the finest young midfielders in Ligue 1, with the 17-year-old having earned admiring glances from around the continent.

Chelsea, AC Milan and RB Leipzig have all been touted as potential landing spots for Gourna-Douath, who reportedly could be made available this summer for a fee of around €25 million (£22m/$30m).

Many expected Adil Aouchiche, the former Paris Saint-Germain youngster who placed 22nd on the 2021 NXGN list in March, to be the teenage midfielder to watch at Stade Geoffroy-Guichard this term, but Gourna-Douath has stolen the spotlight since being handed his debut by Claude Puel in September.

That was the first of 25 Ligue 1 matches the France Under-17s captain has appeared in, with 10 of those appearances coming as part of the starting XI for a player some have dubbed ‘the new Paul Pogba’.

source:- goal