Arsenal's £8m Belgian Striker Target Can Leave For Release Clause – Agent

Arsenal striker target Michy Batshuayi's agent has claimed that he can leave Standard Liege for his release clause with the striker strongly connected with a move to the Premier League.

At just 20 years of age Batshuayi has made a huge impression on the Belgian side since moving from the youth set-up to the senior line-up in 2011. This season he has 16 goals in 25 appearances and the youngster has reportedly been attracting interest from the Gunners as a result.

Everton are also believed to be monitoring his situation and agent Christophe Henrotay has claimed that for the release clause, believed to be around £8m, Arsenal would be able to begin negotiations to sign the player.

"Several Premier League clubs are following him closely, that is so," Christophe Henrotay told Sudinfo, via the Daily Mail.

"There are also opportunities in other leagues.

"The situation is simple. If a club triggers his buyout clause then he can sit down and negotiate."

He continued: "At this moment there are no clubs that offered the full amount to trigger the clause. My player is still happy at Standard. For sure. But there's a lot of interest in him. It's getting hot. When a club decides to trigger his clause, it's up to Michy to decide."

But Standard Leige have hit back at the comments made by Batshuayi's agent, threatening to take the issue up with FIFA as they continue to insist that the Belgium under 21 international is contracted to the club until 2017 and will honour the agreement.

Their statement read: "Mr Henrotay has, in recent months, made a number of representations to several clubs (in English Premier League for the most part) to offer them to acquire Michy Batshuayi.

"Mr Henrotay tries to convince him to break his contract with Standard Liege, while it has recently been reviewed and extended until 2017.

"The club regrets this approach, the more so when the player himself has repeatedly said and repeated his desire to finish the season with the goal of delivering a title to Standard and finish as top-scorer.

"Henrotay has no mandate from Standard for such negotiations."

But should a club be willing to meet his clause Standard might not have any control over whether the hitman stays or leaves, and with Arsenal in the market this month for attacking players they could be willing to take a gamble on the man touted for big things with Belgium.