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Nouhou’s name has been mentioned as a potential transfer target of European teams for a couple weeks. MLSsoccer.com’s Sam Stejskal narrowed that down to teams in France’s Ligue 1 on Thursday. Now, we have an actual team name.
Stade Rennais is reportedly the team interested in Nouhou, according to reports out of France.
Pour sa doublure à gauche, Rennes s'est positionné ses derniers jours sur Nouhou Tolo (Seattle). 21 ans, international camerounais et qui sort d'une belle saison en MLS #Mercato #RMCLive
— Loïc Tanzi (@Tanziloic) January 11, 2019
Rennais isn’t necessarily a huge spender, but they do open the pocketbook when the time is right. This year, they’ve only paid fees for three players, but last season there were eight players brought in who all cost at least $2 million.
The Guardian story that kicked off these rumors suggested Nouhou may fetch as much as $5 million or $6 million. If the Sounders were to actually receive an offer in that range, it would be almost impossible to turn down. But it’s worth noting that Transfermarkt pegs his value at a fraction of that.
Still, it’s not hard to see why teams would be interested in Nouhou. While he’s far from a polished product going forward, he’s an elite defender with physical tools that suggest he still has some growth ahead of him.
Even if no one is willing to blow the Sounders away with a transfer offer, simply having interest from European teams suggests Nouhou deserves a sizable raise over what is currently a salary that pays him less than $55,000 a year.