Villarreal striker Cedric Bakambu has said Paris Saint-Germain contacted him over the summer regarding a move to the French capital to be backup to in-form striker Edinson Cavani under new coach Unai Emery.
DR Congo international Bakambu, who was born and raised in the Parisian suburb of Vitry-sur-Seine, told L'Equipe of the Ligue 1 champions' interest after scoring 12 La Liga goals and nine in the Europa League in an impressive debut season at Estadio El Madrigal.
Ultimately, PSG went for Real Madrid's Jese Rodriguez instead of Bakambu but the Spaniard has struggled to make an impression at Parc des Princes so far after an injury-hit start to life in France, while Cavani has netted 15 goals in as many appearances across all club competitions.
"Paris contacted me to be Cavani's backup," Bakambu said. "Obviously there were two pursuits [the other being Jese]."
Bakambu, 25, knows Ligue 1 well after spending eight years at formative club FC Sochaux-Montbeliard before moving to Turkey with Bursaspor back in 2014 and then to Spain with Villarreal.
Now with DR Congo, he represented France at youth level up until the under-20 selection. This season, Bakambu has just two goals from eight appearances across all competitions for the Yellow Submarine.