Liverpool Transfer Rumours: Will the Reds Beat out Arsenal for Ipswitch Striker?

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Liverpool Transfer Rumours Focus On A Young English Talent

If you want to be a perennial contender in the Premier League, or any top-level football league, for that matter, you have to cherish young talent.

All of the best clubs have a pipeline of young stars-in-waiting, and one of the prized targets of the offseason is Connor Wickham of Ipswitch Town.

Per Goal.com:

Liverpool and Arsenal lead the chase for the England Under-21 international, who is the next young English talent on the verge of a seven-figure move this summer.
Liverpool have enquired about the 18-year-old striker – dubbed the ‘next Alan Shearer’ – in the current transfer window and told Ipswich they would be willing to pay £7m.
Ipswich told the Merseysiders they value Wickham at £14m although sources close to the negotiations have told Goal.com they would accept £12m for the youngster, who was an unused substitute in last Sunday’s European Under-21 opener against Spain.
Arsenal have proposed a loan-back deal to Ipswich, whereby they purchase the player and then loan him back to Portman Road for 12 months to continue his football education.

Clearly, if Liverpool wants to land this young striker, it's going to have to step up to the plate, because the Reds are nowhere near what Ipswitch wants.

With Arsenal putting an attractive offer in front of the club, Liverpool really needs to consider how much they want a player of Wickham's talents.

Wenger has a track record of getting the most out of young talent, and giving him back to Ipswitch for another year might be too enticing to pass up.

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Liverpool is looking to be very active in this transfer window, and getting a player it can develop into a top talent is something that can give fans to look forward to, but Wenger has a knack for poaching top young players, and the Reds will have a tough fight for him.

My money is on Arsenal if push comes to shove, especially with how far off the Reds are from Ipswitch's demands.

- Tom Kinslow

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