Liverpool made their first step towards renewing their midfield today, with Alexis Mac Allister signing a five-year deal with the club. The Reds were able to pick up the World Cup winner for a relatively low fee of £35million.
They are expected to be doing more business this transfer window, with replacements needed in midfield and the possible need to strengthen at centre-back.
New sporting director Jörg Schmadtke should not have to look too far into his phonebook to discuss a possible deal for Gladbach’s Manu Koné – his son, Nils has just been installed in the same position for the German side. Frenchman Khéphren Thuram was pictured with Koné this week, doing little to dispel rumours that the pair could soon be lining up together in a red shirt. Another German-based target is Bayern Munich’s Ryan Gravenberch.
On the latest episode of our Journo Insight Show, we asked goal.com’s Neil Jones for a steer on possible upcoming signings.
NEIL JONES HAS ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT ALEXIS MAC ALLISTER’S LIVERPOOL TRANSFER!
Neil said:
“I think there’s an interest in Thuram, definitely. I think he’s a player – you look at his age, again the number of games, all the things we talked about with Mac Allister really – they all fit.
“He’s a player that would give Liverpool something very different to what they’ve got. He’s a very technical player, but he’s also a real unit, isn’t he?
“I think the fee would be around… I don’t think it’d be a million miles away from what we’re talking about with Mac Allister.
“I still think there are few pieces to move into place. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were to go hard for Thuram and/or Koné in the coming weeks.
“I would say it would be more likely to be one or the other, just because I think if you’re buying three midfielders of that ilk, I don’t think Liverpool are going to completely redesign the midfield in one window and have three brand new players all expecting to play, maybe I’m wrong.
“I’m quite sold on Gravenberch as a signing, funnily enough. I think there’s something in that – he had a go and he didn’t quite make it at Bayern, and Liverpool gave him that platform to go and do it. I think Bayern are more likely to resist the sale than Nice or Gladbach would be.”
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