Bilal El Khannouss (Stuttgart loan, official)

[Bordersfox]

1 minute ago, whoareyaaa said:

He is guaranteed to play every minute so I doubt that would harm his World Cup chances, I think Cifuentes will do everything to try and keep him, plus if he has a good season his value will only go up... obviously if a really good offer comes in and the player don't want to be here then yea he will be off.

Agree, think it will all come down to whether Cifuentes can sell the project to him.

 

He could be integral next season both with his pressing and technical ability.  We aren't getting a replacement anywhere near his quality.  

 

Would rather keep and, if we can't clear anyone else out, look at loan options for striker.  

[FrankieADZ]

 

think its already been said theres no release clause or anything

[jayfox26]

5 minutes ago, FrankieADZ said:

 

think its already been said theres no release clause or anything

Well we ain't going to sell him for less than we paid for him. I'd say £30m or keep him to be honest. Even if we kept him and he had a good first half of the season, a team in Jan would stump up more money, so no point selling him now on the cheap. I'd rather sell Mads, which I know won't bring in a much money but a least we have a ready made replacement with Stolarczyk. We don't really have any replacement for Bilal and we'd not be able to replace him with anyone that's anywhere near his level. 

[LeePhilpottsBaldSpot]

On 19/07/2025 at 15:33, Claudio Fannieri said:

I genuinely don’t see Bilal as wanting to play a season in the championship especially in a World Cup year, think he will leave alongside Mads, similar to when Barnes and Madders left following the previous relegation. 

Bilal has potential, but Maddison and Barnes were much more likely to leave than him.

 

They had 19 and 14 goal contributions in their relegation season, Bilal had 5. They were in their prime and could attract big moves - Bilal’s time may come, but for now he’d likely join another struggler.

 

A strong season in the Championship would do more for his career than another year getting battered in the Prem.

Edited 21 July 2025 by LeePhilpottsBaldSpot

[Richmondfox]

1 hour ago, LeePhilpottsBaldSpot said:

Bilal has potential, but Maddison and Barnes were much more likely to leave than him.

 

They had 19 and 14 goal contributions in their relegation season, Bilal had 5. They were in their prime and could attract big moves - Bilal’s time may come, but for now he’d likely join another struggler.

 

A strong season in the Championship would do more for his career than another year getting battered in the Prem.

Barnes had Maddison & Youri, Bilal had Ayew, Reid and Soumare.

[foxfan92]

Not spotted any pictures of him camped at an airport departure lounge yet ... (admittedly it's not that close to the deadline day), but since it seems like any talk of release clauses is nonsense I'd not sell unless we were offered stupid money, or was really being disruptive.

 

He looks to have that quality about him that will elevate us in this league above most, and promotion is worth way more than any transfer fee.

 

He's the type of player we should be building the squad around. I'm really hoping we trust youth and potential more than the older heads we have, (I know it's a good idea to have a mix), but I feel like we've got an opportunity in this league where we can risk younger players playing a larger role at this stage of their career, than we might be able to in the Premier League.  And that might be our silver lining, especially if we can then keep this younger team and survive the drop after promotion, and build up a good model again from there, (selling one big asset but investing wisely) (assuming the best this season).

[fuzzymizzit]

1 hour ago, foxfan92 said:

Not spotted any pictures of him camped at an airport departure lounge yet ... (admittedly it's not that close to the deadline day), but since it seems like any talk of release clauses is nonsense I'd not sell unless we were offered stupid money, or was really being disruptive.

 

He looks to have that quality about him that will elevate us in this league above most, and promotion is worth way more than any transfer fee.

 

He's the type of player we should be building the squad around. I'm really hoping we trust youth and potential more than the older heads we have, (I know it's a good idea to have a mix), but I feel like we've got an opportunity in this league where we can risk younger players playing a larger role at this stage of their career, than we might be able to in the Premier League.  And that might be our silver lining, especially if we can then keep this younger team and survive the drop after promotion, and build up a good model again from there, (selling one big asset but investing wisely) (assuming the best this season).

I agree. Build around the youth we have, let people like Coady put his money where his mouth is and help mentor some younger players, and rebuild. El Khannouss has what every club needs which is the ability to unlock defences; we should be building around this guy not looking to ship him off. 

 

A big ask there re. returning to the model that was successful for us, though, given the higher-ups and scouting team don't look to be a patch on what we had in the second half of the 2010s.

Edited 23 July 2025 by fuzzymizzit

[Old git]

Totally agree. Billau is probably the best player we’ve got. I was very impressed with his attitude last season.

Build the team around him, only sell if we get a silly money huge offer.   

[Old git]

You’d think I could spell his name !

 

Bilal.

[CloudFox]

I really hope we keep him, and he wants to use this next season as an opportunity to absolutely smash the league to bits, showing his quality. No offense to Sunderland, but he deserves better than them or Forest as his next move. Villa I could perhaps understand.

[MPH]

44 minutes ago, Old git said:

Totally agree. Billau is probably the best player we’ve got. I was very impressed with his attitude last season.

Build the team around him, only sell if we get a silly money huge offer.   

 

I agree that he’s the best player we have got.  However his value can be determined by two things- one is his ability and the other is by the financial position we find ourselves in. You are right to say we need to build a team and unfortunately that costs money. And that will be funded by who we are able to sell. We might not be able to sell some of those we want most likely for 2 reasons- they might not be very good and we might have given them large contracts.

 

so in other words, if we want a new striker, we might need to accept a lower offer than we’d like for Bilal

[Lesterlad]

5 hours ago, CloudFox said:

I really hope we keep him, and he wants to use this next season as an opportunity to absolutely smash the league to bits, showing his quality. No offense to Sunderland, but he deserves better than them or Forest as his next move. Villa I could perhaps understand.

If he goes to Sunderland he will be in a relegation battle. Forest will at least offer him European Football. If I was him I would stick it out for another season and then see where it leades. a good promotion campaign could well make more clubs sit up and take notice

[kingpowerout]

If the manager can impress him and we can build a good culture over pre-season then maybe can convince him to give us another year…it’s not out of the realms of possibility 

[JimJams]

9 minutes ago, Lesterlad said:

If he goes to Sunderland he will be in a relegation battle. Forest will at least offer him European Football. If I was him I would stick it out for another season and then see where it leades. a good promotion campaign could well make more clubs sit up and take notice

I think anybody in his position takes a Forest move over staying here.  Why stick it out anywhere?  If he goes to a Premier League Club that likely isn't in danger of going down, with the added bonus of European football, he has the chance to impress and further improve his career with yet another move.  Just get a clause in like MGW got and he can't lose.

[Bob Weasel Fox]

Talk of Sunderland paying around £25 million for Bilal would give us a small profit that could be reinvested 

 

although I think we will hold out for £30 million ish 

[fox_favourite]

1 minute ago, Bob Weasel Fox said:

Talk of Sunderland paying around £25 million for Bilal would give us a small profit that could be reinvested 

 

although I think we will hold out for £30 million ish 

Don't we owe a percentage for a sell on clause to Genk, which would eat into our profit. Hence why we're asking for £30m+?

[foxfan92]

7 hours ago, fuzzymizzit said:

I agree. Build around the youth we have, let people like Coady put his money where his mouth is and help mentor some younger players, and rebuild. El Khannouss has what every club needs which is the ability to unlock defences; we should be building around this guy not looking to ship him off. 

 

A big ask there re. returning to the model that was successful for us, though, given the higher-ups and scouting team don't look to be a patch on what we had in the second half of the 2010s.

You'd hope with the youngsters coming through and the potential they look to have, especially those like Nelson and Alves who've seemingly been on the fringe for a while now, that even our recruitment / scouts /background staff/ owners can't mess up the model too much.

 

Hope Cifuentes's reputation of trusting youth means we're not going to spend over the odds (and pay big wages) for other team's rot that are the wrong side of 28, and we'll never manage to shift.

 

We want young, hungry players with large sell on profits in the future.

[winteriscoming]

I can see it being 25m and then plus add ons rising to 30m. 

[Bob Weasel Fox]

1 hour ago, fox_favourite said:

Don't we owe a percentage for a sell on clause to Genk, which would eat into our profit. Hence why we're asking for £30m+?

Not sure 🤔 but you are probably right 

[FrankieADZ]

FosseHub on X: "🚨Leeds United are monitoring Leicester City playmaker Bilal El Khannouss [@BerenCross] https://t.co/A8azw4Xujl" / X

[Foxin_Mad]

Sunderland and Leeds can fook off, both are heading back to the champo anyway so a waste of effort moving. 

[les-tah]

1 hour ago, FrankieADZ said:

FosseHub on X: "🚨Leeds United are monitoring Leicester City playmaker Bilal El Khannouss [@BerenCross] https://t.co/A8azw4Xujl" / X

Im sure hes being monitored by every Digital scouting tool in every professional club tbf.. doesnt mean he will go.

 

lazy journalism he will only go if someone offers us £30 Million and they are an established top flight club, cant see him wanting to be in relegation fights every single year.

[Muzzy_no7]

Negotiations with Sunderland or Leeds:

 

”You can have him for 25m+ and then we will match the fee this time next year when we swap leagues”

 

[Sol thewall Bamba]

It would literally be better for his career to play 45 games in the Championship and return 25 goal contributions than 35 in the PL and return 5 again. 

[TheLittleBigMan]

Can't see anyone taking a punt on him for £30 mil. He'll stay with us I reckon.