Despite Jurgen Klopp’s concerns about Liverpool’s financial capabilities in the January winter window, it is understood the Reds will have around £200-250m to spend this summer.
That approach has been confirmed by BILD’s Christian Falk (speaking to Caught Offside) amid ongoing ties between the club and Jude Bellingham, who is expected to take on a significant part of the funds in question.
However, with the midfield still struggling to deliver despite attempts to adjust performance levels at the hot-weather training ground in Dubai, reinforcements beyond Cody Gakpo remain a must.
Here are a handful of Empire of the Kop names being considered as possible additions.
Jude Bellingham (£130m region)
Liverpool’s main objective this summer will be to have a foaming-at-the-mouth selection of the best clubs to sign him, should a departure from Germany be desired.
Real Madrid, Klopp’s team and Manchester City are believed to be the main contenders, although we can’t possibly rule out dark horses in Manchester United and Chelsea.
James Pearce (The Athletic) has already reported that the Englishman will hold back an interested party in the region of £130m.
Manu Kone (valued at 30 million pounds – HITC)
The Gladbach midfielder has been pegged as a potential alternative to Bellingham should the Reds miss their main target.
At 21 years of age, the Bundesliga star would still fit the preferred age profile generally favored by our recruiting team.
Football Transfers’ Jacque Talbot has revealed that Liverpool are currently in talks with both the player and Nice’s Kephren Thuram, presumably with a view to signing one of the two highest-rated players in January to help resolve the club’s midfield woes.
Matheus Nunes (reportedly available for £44 million)
Matheus Nunes was a name heavily linked with the Merseysiders last summer and now the Premier League-based outfit is said to have lined up a £44m move for the Portuguese star for the summer.
The former Sporting star impressed in his FA Cup cameo appearance at Anfield, showing his ability to add control to midfield while Klopp’s midfield proved comparatively lacking.
However, it is understood that we will not be able to get the star for Wolves in January, in light of FIFA regulations, which stipulate that a player cannot represent more than two clubs in a single season.
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Yunus Musah (available north of £17.2m)
The United States international turned heads at the World Cup despite his team’s elimination in the round of 16 courtesy of a 3-1 loss to the Netherlands from the competition.
Liverpool and Chelsea, according to 90Min (via the Daily Mail), are said to be keeping an eye on the midfielder who has posted some impressive stats this season for Valencia.
Khephren Thuram (about £26.6 million)
Another name the Reds are reportedly in talks with during a January transfer window in which many fans aren’t so patiently waiting for a new signing.
A player credited with being particularly resistant to pressure (a trait that inspires memories of the perhaps underappreciated Gini Wijnaldum) and more than competent when it comes to winning the ball back, the Nice star could be the ideal choice for Liverpool in this moment.
Moises Caicedo (£65m excess likely)
Another shining example of the growing superiority of Brighton and Hove Albion’s phenomenal recruiting team, the Ecuador international’s value has skyrocketed since moving from Independiente del Valle.
However, Seagulls CEO Paul Barber has already laughed off the possibility of Caicedo leaving for £42m, which may mean it will take a figure beyond the £65m reported by the Mirror to get the midfielder out of the Amex.
Who should Liverpool buy?
Assuming Liverpool manage to sign Jude Bellingham for £130m, we’ll have £70m to £120m left to spend on further additions to the team, potentially less if we’ve already managed to sign a midfielder in the winter. window.
If another £44m is earmarked for Wolves’ Nunes, a move exceeding the £30-40m mark is probably unlikely, so we wouldn’t be too surprised to see our recruitment team focus their efforts on people like Musah, Thuram and Kone.
Our previous experience with the Bundesliga has been largely positive, so a move to the last of the three mentioned options might seem the most viable initially.
Most interesting, perhaps, are the Gladbach man’s defensive contributions with FBRef stats showing the 21-year-old dominates the trio in tackles in the defensive third every 90 minutes:
Horned Bird: 1.25
Kefren Thuram: 0.83
Yunus Musa: 0.64
This compares quite favorably to our current perceived best midfield three:
Thiago Alcantara: 1.41
Fabino: 0.92
Jordan Henderson: 0.33
It is not clear, at the moment, whether our financial capabilities in the summer will be greatly affected by the absence of Champions League football, although it is probably safe to assume that we will be less flexible in the market without it.
Leaving aside the potentially far-reaching consequences of not securing a top-four spot in 2022/23, there is no telling what kind of caliber target we will be able to sign, nor the impact on our hopes of acquiring Borussia Dortmund talent. .
With that in mind, there’s every reason to suggest we’ll be pushing hard for at least one midfielder in January to assuage some of the current concerns in the middle of the park.
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