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The place else to start out this week’s column than with Romeo Lavia? That’s the player Liverpool want in midfield, that’s the participant they’ve made a bid for. They made their transfer over the weekend, with a £37m bid to Southampton. That’s been rejected, but it surely looks as if Lavia is the choice Liverpool have settled on.
Southampton clearly need a greater value, round £50m, and it seems like Liverpool’s supply isn’t one million miles away from that now, making an allowance for add-ons. It seems like there’s a very good probability a compromise may very well be discovered, however we’ll should see how a lot Liverpool are prepared to go up, and the way a lot Southampton is likely to be prepared to decrease their calls for. My present understanding is that Liverpool are probably to return in with an improved bid, value in extra of £40m together with add-ons.
A couple of different names have been talked about as properly, even when the Lavia curiosity appears probably the most concrete in the meanwhile, but it surely’s not stunning that the membership might have alternate options in thoughts. Joao Palhinha and Cheick Doucoure have been linked, and of these two I believe the latter is much likelier. Doucoure is 4 of 5 years youthful, so given his age and the cash type of cash that will be required for these gamers, I believe he clearly seems a extra real looking goal. He’s had an honest first season within the Premier League, however I nonetheless suspect his asking value quoted from Palace sources of £65-70m could be a bit excessive. However related cash for Palhinha from Fulham, who’s 28 years previous, makes that one loads much less probably. And that’s earlier than making an allowance for that Palhinha additionally bought what regarded like fairly a foul shoulder damage in a pleasant towards Brentford over the weekend, so I believe we are able to most likely tick him off the checklist. Doucoure, although, may very well be one to keep watch over, relying on what occurs with Lavia, in addition to with Fabinho and Jordan Henderson.
My best goal, even when it’s not real looking, would most likely be Moises Caicedo. I like Lavia, and assume he might develop into a top quality first-team participant, however Caicedo is a extra established participant and could be my dream signing in that place. For me, he simply ticks each field that you simply’d need from a Liverpool participant to alter this crew going ahead. He’s Premier League-proven, he’s energetic, he’s robust, he can go, he can run, he’s proven he can fill in at right-back which might work properly in a crew with a roaming right-back like Trent Alexander-Arnold. Sadly, it doesn’t really feel prefer it’s going to be doable this summer time.
I believe one other dream midfield signing might’ve been Aurelien Tchouameni. It was twelve months in the past that Liverpool labored actually laborious on attempting to get Tchouameni from Monaco. He was recognized because the precedence to come back in and play alongside Fabinho to start with, after which ultimately succeed him. I believe Liverpool felt that they had a very good probability of persuading the participant to hitch, however then Actual Madrid got here in and as soon as they had been there and able to make the transfer, Liverpool misplaced out.
I believe that was an actual disappointment for Liverpool when it comes to their planning. They put all their eggs into that basket actually, and if you happen to have a look at what occurred final season, and the way the final twelve months have performed out, they didn’t signal anybody else in that ilk they usually did find yourself being a bit wanting high quality when it comes to dependable midfield gamers, and it got here again to hang-out them with a below-par marketing campaign general.
The query now, when it comes to Liverpool ever having the ability to revive this deal, is would Actual Madrid be prepared to let him go? There’s been some hypothesis after he performed maybe a bit lower than he would’ve appreciated within the second half of final season, however you’ll be able to see with signings like Tchouameni, in addition to Eduardo Camavinga and Jude Bellingham, that Actual Madrid are actually assembling a very good younger core of gamers.
Together with the likes of Vinicius and Rodrygo up entrance, you’ll be able to see what Madrid clearly hope can be their subsequent huge crew, and I believe Tchouameni goes to be an enormous a part of that. I’d personally be very shocked to see them giving up already on a participant they pushed so laborious and paid a lot cash for.
I’m certain Liverpool want to have that probability to revive their curiosity, however I can’t see Actual giving them the possibility to take action – until they actually resolve to go strongly for Kylian Mbappe this summer time and they should liberate some funds, however that doesn’t at present seem like being the case.
