Liverpool are ‘ready to offer’ a player in exchange to seal their sixth summer signing after Armin Pecsi, Jeremie Frimpong, Florian Wirtz, Milos Kerkez and Freddie Woodman.
The Reds are comfortably this summer’s biggest spenders, with nearly £200m invested to make those five additions so far, with more moves expected from sporting director Richard Hughes to bolster Arne Slot’s title-winning squad.
Slot also wants to add a striker to his ranks to replace Darwin Nunez, who is reportedly nearing a move to Napoli, and have been linked with Eintracht Frankfurt’s Hugo Ekitike as an alternative to ‘dream’ target Alexander Isak.
But Liverpool are also facing a something of a centre-back crisis having agreed to let Jarell Quansah leave for Bayer Leverkusen for £35m without agreeing an extension for Ibrahima Konate.
The Frenchman is said to have been ‘disappointed’ with the Reds’ contract offer and has now decided he wants to run down his contract and ‘leave’ when it expires at the end of next season amid interest from Real Madrid.
That’s the nightmare ‘scenario’ for Hughes and Liverpool, with reports suggesting they will look to find a buyer for the 26-year-old this summer to avoid the same fate which saw them lose Trent Alexander-Arnold to Los Blancos for nothing.
That blow appears to have strengthened the club’s resolve to land Marc Guehi from Crystal Palace as a report on Saturday claimed Liverpool are ‘closing in’ on Guehi as they have moved into ‘pole position’ for the centre-back.
With Liverpool ‘in prime position’, it is noted that ‘talks between all parties will take place in the next 24 hours’.
There are ‘hurdles to overcome’, with Palace ‘to hold out for a fee in excess of £40m’, though they have acknowledged that they cannot demand the £70m they wanted last summer with just one year left to run on his contract.
The Sun now claim Palace want £50m and that Liverpool are ‘ready to throw flying Scot Ben Doak into a swap deal’ for the England international.
The 19-year-old impressed on loan with Middlesbrough in the Championship last term with three goals and seven assists in 24 appearances.
The Reds bosses reportedly value him at £25m, which has led Everton to back away from a deal having shown interest in the teenager, and are now prepared to use him as a makeweight in a deal for Guehi.
It’s not clear whether Palace would be at all interested in such a deal and the report concedes that it ‘will take a great deal of negotiating’.