OPINION
Matz Sels is potentially heading to the World Cup with Belgian this summer and this will see his value skyrocket even if he doesn’t kick a ball.
The 26-year-old goalkeeper was a surprise inclusion in Roberto Martinez’s preliminary Belgian squad, which was revealed via the national side’s official Twitter account, on Monday afternoon.
Sels hadn’t played in any games under Rafa Benitez during the recently concluded season and instead spent the entire campaign out on loan at RSC Anderlecht.
While out on loan at the Belgian giants, the shot-stopper made 37 appearances, conceding 55 goals and keeping nine clean sheets in the process.
Clearly this was enough for him to be seen as one of Belgian’s three best goalkeepers to be called upon by Martinez.
This is something that will be hard to fathom for anyone that was able to witness Sels perform at St James Park for the Magpies, as he always looked like a nervous liability between the sticks.
The 26-year-old made only 14 appearances for the club, yet those outings made it easy to see that the decision to ever sign him was a mistake.
Especially when the club paid £5.7million, as reported by Nieuwsblad,to sign the goalkeeper from Gent in the summer of 2016.
Belgian newspaper Nieuwsblad previously reported in March that the Magpies were looking to offload the 26-year-old stopper in the upcoming summer window, and were willing to take a loss on their original outlay, by seeking a fee of £4.4million to £5.2million for his services.
However with the goalkeeper even being in contention to go to the World Cup in Russia, it shows that his £5.7million mistake is about to payoff this summer, as Mike Ashley can now raise his price.
While Selz may not even kick a ball or make the final Belgian squad for the summer tournament, which is announced on June 4, to be in contention to go shows he is going to be worth more than the £5.7million that the Magpies originally paid.
Nieuwsbald claimed when revealing the 26-year-old’s price tag that Anderlecht wanted to sign the goalkeeper permanently, and Ashley can easily use Sels’ surprise inclusion in Belgian’s squad to make them stump up some serious cash.
This will see Sels’ inevitable sale, he’s not needed at St James Park, pay off for the club this summer as the fee received will be a higher than expected bonus for Benitez’s transfer budget and that must have Ashley licking his lips.
