“I have felt at home since the first day, the way I am received and how people treat me makes me very happy,” said the 24-year-old midfielder, who was taken over from France’s Toulouse in 2020. Over the past two seasons, the African has emerged as a stable, physically strong midfielder who brings balance to the team. And his name was constantly associated with big foreign clubs, especially from England. Due to a fixed transfer fee of 37.5 million euros in Sangaré’s contract, that danger was still lurking.
Aston Villa, Leicester City and Newcastle United have already shown interest in Sangaré, while the absolute top clubs Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United also sent their scouts to see the PSV midfielder at work.
Becoming a champion
The number of official matches for PSV stands at 89 for Sangaré. He scored five goals and gave six assists. His trophy cabinet is already well filled with a KNVB Cup and two Johan Cruijff Scales, but there is still plenty for him to win in Eindhoven. “I want to become champion with PSV and reach the UEFA Champions League,” said the midfielder, who was sidelined against FC Emmen on Saturday evening with a view to the return in the third qualifying round of the Champions League against AS Monaco on Tuesday.
Director of Football Affairs John de Jong is very satisfied with the extension of Sangaré: „It is clear that Ibrahim is an interesting player for many clubs, so we are happy that he has chosen to extend his contract. We have the ambition with PSV to improve ourselves compared to last season and Ibrahim would like to contribute to that. That is why it is so good that he provides clarity to PSV early in August. „A second main goal for the coming weeks is to keep Cody Gakpo on board and PSV may also use a new contract as a teaser for that.
PSV also hopes to keep Cody Gakpo in Eindhoven.
PROSHOTS
An example is the way in which the Eindhoven club managed to retain the strongholds Memphis Depay and Georginio Wijnaldum prior to the 2014/2015 season despite a lot of interest from abroad, after which PSV ended a self-titled period of seven years and Depay and Wijnaldum made a big transfer the following summer.
gakpo
After the 4-1 win over FC Emmen, Gakpo emphatically kept the option open to stay in Eindhoven. Like Sangaré, the attacker has been linked to a transfer to England for months. Arsenal, among others, showed interest, but to date that interest has not yet resulted in a concrete proposal. The route to the main draw of the Champions League is very important for him, Gakpo has indicated.
“First we have to focus with PSV on the Champions League and therefore continue against AS Monaco. Then it is more likely to stay. I haven’t said anywhere that I’m leaving,” Gakpo said to ESPN’s camera. During the match against FC Emmen, the PSV supporters repeatedly repeated the plea ‘Gakpo must stay’, which sounded frequently in the Philips Stadium last year.