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Angel Gomes could soon have a huge decision to make amid continued links with former club Manchester United and the fast-approaching end of his contract with Lille.
Gomes left United in 2020 in pursuit of first-team opportunities and has landed on his feet abroad. Following a stabilising loan with Boavista in Portugal, the midfielder has cemented himself as a key player in a Lille side that has restored itself to Champions League status.
The 24-year-old has also earned recognition by the England national team setup, called up by interim coach Lee Carsley in the wake of Euro 2024 and earning three senior caps so far.
But Gomes is nearing the conclusion of the five-year contract he signed with Lille when he first arrived in France’s north east corner. From January, he could sign a pre-contract elsewhere.
The latest on his future from L’Equipe is still “no extension is on the horizon”. Manchester United, heavily linked since getting the call from Carsley, are among “several big names” back home reported to have been closely monitoring Gomes even before his current wave of hype.
United lost Gomes on a free transfer but recapturing him in similar fashion, having seen him grow and flourish as a first-team player in the intervening years, feels a bit like fate.
Gomes himself said only recently that he doesn’t feel driven by a need to be in the Premier League. He has indeed played his way into the senior England squad without it, although Carsley’s familiarity with his game as former Under-21 boss was likely a factor too. But the player also admitted that sentimentality would make it “difficult to say no” should United offer him a return.
His father, Gil Gomes, was born in Angola and represented Portugal up to Under-21 level, as well as being an Under-20 World Cup winner alongside Luis Figo. But Gomes Jr. grew up withManchester United on his doorstep, raised in nearby Salford and drafted into the academy from the age of six.
Having first played at Under-18 level aged 14, at 16 he was the youngest ever recipient of the Jimmy Murphy Player of the Year award, the prize handed to each season’s top academy talent. Two days after winning that honour, Gomes then made his first-team debut under Jose Mourinho and was the club’’s youngest player since the legendary Duncan Edwards in 1953.
Yet reaching the end of his teens with only nine further appearances to his name, Gomes made the tough decision to move on with the “idea to better myself as a player and person”. He’s achieved that objective, and now a new crossroads lies in front of him.
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