Football scouts from European topflight sides such as Manchester United, Borussia Dortmund, Inter Milan, Tottenham Hotspur, Lille and Sevilla were present in Belgium to watch Nigerian striker Gift Orban in KAA Gent’s 4-0 trashing of Cercle Brugge in theIr UEFA Europa Conference League playoffs on Saturday.

Orban put up a 5-star performance in the win scoring a hat-trick – his third for the club since making a €3.3m move from Norwegian league side Stabæk during the January transfer window.

He’s scored 19 goals in 19 appearances for the club in all competitions, a performance that has seen him become a target for clubs in the European top 5 league bracket but although Gent are adamant they won’t let the Nigerian leave in the summer, the club’s poor financial status may force them to selling the Nigerian to the highest bidder. 

Gent had previously placed a €20m price tag on the 20-year-old but with the recent demand for his services, the club will be looking at selling him for close to the €32m they received from Lille for the services of Canadian striker Jonathan David in the summer of 2020.

According to top Belgian sports publication HNB via voetbalnieuws.be, “The chance therefore seems small that Orban will still be admired in the Ghelamco Arena next season. But if he leaves, Ghent will hit the jackpot. An amount approaching Jonathan David’s record sum (around 32 million euros) is not excluded,” according to HNB .

The gifted forward has scored three hat-tricks for the club – one in the Belgian Jupiler League, another in the Conference League against Basaksehir, which set the record of being the fastest hat-trick ever in a European competition.