French side Racing Strasbourg centre-back Mohamed Simakan has reportedly emerged as a transfer target for the Bundesliga side RB Leipzig.
Chelsea and Liverpool have recently been credited with an interest in the 20-year-old defender, who is valued somewhere in the region of £18m.
Neither side could reach an agreement with the Ligue 1 outfit in January, however, and RB Leipzig are now at the head of the queue to sign the French youngster.
Strasbourg president Marc Keller confirmed that Leipzig is Simakan’s preferred destination.
“For the moment, we have never adopted a trading policy like other clubs, i.e. selling to compensate for operating losses,” he said.
“We’ve never done it and for the first time, we’re probably going to use a sale to help us get through this crisis as well.
“It should be Mohamed, although for now nothing is done. We discuss. We have a very good relationship with the German leaders in Leipzig. We still had them on the phone [on Tuesday]. Momo wants to go there.”
Simakan still has two-and-a-half left to run on his contract and has started 19 times in the French top flight this season.