Angel Gomes is one of the greatest talents in Europe, says Lille director

Lille’s director of football, Luis Campos, rates Angel Gomes’ talent highly and believes the former Manchester United man can become a top player.

Gomes first emerged in 2017 as a teenager for Manchester United after graduating the club’s youth system. Regular first-team opportunities, however, were almost non-existent. Therefore, he left in the summer once his contract expired.

Clubs from Spain, Germany, France, and Portugal were all reportedly interested in signing him. Although rumors linking him to Chelsea were denied by Frank Lampard, who insisted the 20-year-old had ‘never been mentioned’ in any transfer talks.

Lille eventually won the race by signing Gomes on a five-year contract before sending him out on loan to Portuguese club Boavista.

The Englishman, who will spend the entire 2020/21 campaign in Portugal, impressed on his debut in last Saturday’s 3-3 draw with Nacional.

In fact, he assisted all three of Boavista’s goals and started as a center-forward instead of his preferred attacking midfielder role.

“It has to do with the need for him to complete his training,” Campos told O Jogo on why Lille loaned Gomes out in the first place.

“Angel needs to play 30-40 games in one season and I think that, if everything goes well, he will demonstrate that he is one of the greatest talents in Europe.

“We are talking about a player who was the captain of the England team which won the Under-17 World Cup, and who is also, I think, the captain of the England U20s.

“He is a player that I had to watch several times live, both in the Manchester United teams and in the youth teams. For me, I repeat, he is one of the greatest European talents of today.

“It is necessary to create conditions so that all this talent can explode. I believe that Boavista and his coach can help him in that sense.

“He will play in a league that can grow his individual level so that, in the future, he can play at an even higher and more demanding level.”

Gomes will likely feature in Boavista’s next Primeira Liga match at home to FC Porto on Saturday.