Axel Witsel: Destined for the Premier League?
Sir Alex Ferguson has stepped up his pursuit of Axel
Witsel after asking how much it would cost to prise the teenage
midfielder away from Standard Liege.
The Manchester
United manager is showing an increasingly strong
interest in Witsel and has enquired about his availability and
valuation, according to sources close to the Belgian club.
Standard are adamant the 19-year old is worth at least as much
as Marouane Fellaini and that he will not be allowed to leave for
any less than the deadline-day £15million Everton paid for their
record signing.
Ferguson must now decide whether to meet Standard's asking price
for Witsel after recently joining a chase headed by Manchester
City, Middlesbrough, Arsenal and Bolton.
While Bolton appear to have been priced out of the race, after
originally hoping to land him for as little as £6million, the
others are monitoring Standard's UEFA Cup progress, on the
understanding he could be lured away in January, should the Belgian
champions fail to qualify from their group.
Ferguson sent one of his top scouts to watch Witsel in their
opening group game against Sevilla and received a favourable report
on his contribution to a 1-0 home win.
Inter Milan were also represented, but Standard chiefs are in no
mood to cave in after tieing their prize asset to a contract until
2013 and forcing Everton to pay what they see as a benchmark figure
for Fellaini.
Such is the level of interest in Witsel, who broke into
Standard's starting line-up at just 17, that staff at the stadium
struggled to cope with the demand for tickets from Premier League
clubs for their meeting with Sevilla.