French sprinter Nacer Bouhanni’s agent has confirmed rumours in L’Equipe that his rider has many suitors for next season.

Paul de Geyter told Cyclingnews that there are as many as 7 potential top teams willing to sign the young man but there have been no concrete talks.

“It’s true that there’s a broad interest in Nacer but that’s logical as he’s one of only a couple of top sprinters who are free for next year. Kittel, Cavendish, Greipel, they’re all blocked for next year,” De Geyter told Cyclingnews.

“The only decision for Nacer at the moment is whether he will stay with his current team or not because he’ll have to talk with them in the coming days. We’ll know more then but the only thing that’s true is that there’s a broad interest in him. There are six or seven teams interested. They’re top teams.”

Almost all of the world’s best sprinters apart from Bouhanni and Peter Sagan have contracts for next year and this is why the 23 year old is considered such hot property. He has five wins in 2014 and has been on the podium in the Giro d’Italia in the opening stages.

 “He’s happy and he’s had a lot of opportunities on the team. He’s not looking for a move but what he is looking for is a chance to develop as a rider in the next few years. Let’s not forget that he’s still a very young rider. His main need is to be on team where he can develop his potential. Of course that can still be FDJ.”

When De Geyter was pressed harder about whether FDJ could keep Bouhanni, he replied: “It’s hard to tell. I’ve not spoken to them yet. We’ve not had concrete talks with them yet.”

There has been lots of speculation about a potential transfer for Bouhanni since he vented his anger at not being picked for Milan-Sanremo, as the team chose Arnaud Demare instead, and it is said that the two young sprinters do not have the best relationship. But De Geyter was quick to play this down.

“He’s not angry. Of course he was disappointed as he should be but he turned that around for the next few races and he’s shown already in the Giro that he’s still motivated. It would be crazy if he wasn’t disappointed on missing out on Milan San Remo though, for a rider of his talents it’s a race he can win in the future but he wasn’t angry.”