Potential Future BPL stars Part IV: Sylvain Marveaux,a French midfielder on the verge of an English move

The new Malouda

As part of my continuing look at football talents from across the globe, I stumbled upon a name that could be in the lips of the Anfield faithful come the 2011/2012 season. Sylvain Marveaux is the name that has been linked with Liverpool since the winter transfer window and it seems that Kenny Dalglish has made up his mind to sign him on a free transfer from French side Rennes this summer. The 24-year old former French U-21 international is a talented attacking midfielder who is versatile enough to play on the wings as well. A bit injury prone for a few critics’ liking and at the moment struggling to play enough minutes for Rennes due to a groin problem that has plagued him throughout this season, Sylvain Marveaux’s move to England in the summer is a surety provided there is an all clear signal on the part of the Liverpool medical team.

For Part I of the series, click here.For Part II of the series, click here.For Part III of the series, click here.

Reports from Merseyside say Kenny Dalglish is so impressed with the Frenchman’s talents that he is not concerned with the medical setback that Marveaux has endured all through this season and King Kenny is desperate to see him at Anfield before Manchester United or Chelsea pounce on the player for his signature.

So, who is Sylvain Marveaux? There are some things we, at SportsKeeda, need to know about this talent from Vannes, located on the west coast of the Brittany region. Marveaux was a Rennes youth team-mate of Yoann Gourcuff and formed a good partnership at Rennes with Asamoah Gyan before the Ghana striker’s move to Sunderland after the World Cup.

A prodigious talent yet to feature in the French senior squad, Marveaux is an attacking midfielder who can play in the left wing with ease. Dubbed the new ‘Florent Malouda’, the former Vannes OC player is part of a rare breed of modern wingers who like to move inside to shoot rather than produce pinpoint crosses. With a slender height of 5ft 7ins, Sylvain Marveaux is the younger brother of Montpellier’s Joris Marveaux and the brothers have often met on the field, the recent being last February when the latter scored a brace in Montpellier’s 3-1 win. At 5ft 7ins, Marveaux is strong, nippy, technical, powerful and is handful for even the best of the Ligue One defenders. There is a growing feeling in France that the 7 million pound rated player should sign a new contract with Rennes, with whom he has been playing since 2001, which would give Marveaux another year to assess his injury and to fulfill his international ambitions. But the words of the Rennes General Manager Pierre Dreossi “We will never see Sylvain Marveaux in the jersey of Rennes again” is evidence enough to suggest a big club is in close pursuit of the player. Mr.Dreossi had proved in the past that he is a man of word for this same person had rubbished off suggestions of Marveaux’s departure from France when West Ham United offered 3 million pounds for the midfielder’s services in June 2010. With his contract at Rennes expiring this summer, Monaco or Marseille could be in line to sign the player if Marveaux decides to stay back in France but in all likelihood, the former Ploufragan academy product would be the first of several summer signings that Kenny Dalglish hope to complete before the start of the next season although it remains to be seen whether the Frenchman would be fit enough to be tested in the high voltage physical environment of the Premier League in the first few months of the new season although player of such fine talents would not be wasted by Liverpool and England would witness the arrival of another prodigious Gallic footballer, this time on the red half of Merseyside.

Watch Sylvain Marveaux in action here,