Swansea City's attempts to bolster their strike-force this summer could be set to accelerate with reports in Belgium suggesting that their pursuit of Thomas Henry is becoming 'more concrete', according to Het Nieuwsblad, via Sport Witness.
But it may cost the Swans a significant fee to prize the 26-year-old away from OhL, with the report stating that they are willing to go up to 6 million euros to try and get the Belgian club to accept.
Henry has been a revelation for Leuven since signing from Tubize in 2019, scoring 41 goals in 71 league outings with 21 of those coming in 31 Belgian Pro League matches in the 2020-21 campaign, and it does seem likely that he will depart should anyone match the fee required.
Having expressed an interest in moving to an English league club months ago, Henry has been a target of Swansea for over a month now but it was thought that such a deal would depend on the Welsh club being promoted to the Premier League, per the Daily Mail.
However it looks like they're pressing on with a move regardless and with Andre Ayew and his mammoth wages off the books at the Liberty Stadium, there seems to be more room in the budget to bring players in for transfer fees.
The report suggests though that Henry would rather make the move to a top division if the opportunity arose, but would still be interested in a switch to the Swans.
The Verdict
If Swansea move really quickly then they may just be able to secure Henry before top flight teams from other countries take a look.
Of course it's hard to translate what level the Belgian Pro League is to the Championship, but the very top teams in that country don't disgrace themselves in European competition so it's probably of a similar quality to England's second tier.
The fact that Henry has been prolific for a sustained period suggests that he knows where the back of the net is, and Steve Cooper needs to replace those goals he is losing with the departure of Ayew and he also needs some natural strikers.
Henry kills two birds with one stone and even though it will seemingly cost big bucks to secure his signature, it may be a punt worth taking.