Saint-Etienne should make the loan signing of Niels Nkounkou a permanent deal.

That is the view of a French football journalist, who has been impressed with the Everton loanee.

Nkounkou has lit up Ligue 2 with the French team, who are in 11th place in the table.

Denis Balbir stated, per Peuple Vert: "When you see the extraordinary game he did again against Paris FC, there's only one desire: quickly lift the option to buy of Niels Nkounkou. He's the player Saint-Etienne needed! There had been a lot of moaning about the weakness of that role.

"Now, we have someone who's both a good defender and excellent on the counter attack as well as rather incredible statistics for goals and assists. Even if there's a need to be calm, it's an affair the club will have to accelerate."