Marseille coach Andre Villas-Boas has revealed that the club are on the verge of agreeing a new contract with Everton and Manchester United linked youngster Isaac Lihadji.
The 17-year-old forward has been impressing in youth football in France and has been on the radar of several top clubs in Europe.
He is yet to sign a professional contract with Marseille and was subject to interest from clubs such as Manchester United and Everton in England during the summer, with La Liga giants Barcelona also keeping tabs on him.
Marseille have been frantically working to convince the young forward to commit his future to the club and it seems they have made headway.
Villas-Boas is unaware of the larger details of the negotiations, but he admits that a broad agreement is in place between Marseille and the player’s representatives over a new deal.
“[Marseille sporting director] Andoni [Zubizarreta] is better placed than me to talk about it”, the Portuguese said in a press conference.
“But they have discussed with the agent and I think there is a common agreement over an extension.”
Marseille will hope to iron out the details of the deal soon and get Lihadji signed up on a long term contract in the coming weeks.
