Liverpool Transfer News: Major Rumours as Reds Plot Important January Deals

Liverpool will be forced to sell before they buy in January, with reports suggesting that the sale of Mario Balotelli will be the catalyst for a flurry of transfer activity at Anfield during mid-season transfer window.

According to Rob Shepherd of the Daily Mail, the Reds will look to sell the forward to Sampdoria before launching a bid for goalkeeper Sergio Romero and an ambitious £30 million swoop for Napoli striker Gonzalo Higuain. 

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The latter is a name that will excite the Anfield faithful; here’s a look at what the Argentina forward could potentially bring to the Premier League:

However, Shepherd’s report is at odds with Brendan Rodgers’ recent comments about January spending. On the back of the club’s 1-0 win against Sunderland in the Premier League, the Liverpool manager claimed the club would be doing very little business during the mid-season window, per Izzy Horsefield of the Express:

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January will be quiet for us, unless we think there is something that can really improve our team and then the owners will look to do that.

We have a lot of exciting young talent here.

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In his piece, Shepherd states his belief that those words hold little credence, though:

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Before the window, Rodgers insisted that he would do no business—maybe he was just trying to keep the fees down.

The fact is that Liverpool are desperate to bring two or three players in and reshape their squad. The activity around Anfield could be frenetic in the coming fortnight or so.

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Indeed, the goalkeeping spot is certainly somewhere Rodgers could do with making a January addition. Brad Jones’ injury has seen Simon Mignolet drafted back into the team after he was initially dropped by the Liverpool boss, and after a further string of unconvincing performances from the Belgian, getting a new man between the sticks seems to be paramount.

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As noted here by Sport Witness, the Reds have subsequently been linked with swathes of goalkeepers:

Sampdoria's Romero is a goalkeeper who has long been considered to be a stopper just below the very top bracket, but as we can see here, he has a penchant for making spectacular saves:

He’d be an upgrade on Liverpool’s current options for sure, but if the Reds are harbouring ambitions of making it into the Champions League on a regular basis, they need a goalie of the highest order; Romero is a good 'keeper, but he isn’t top class.

The capture of Higuain would go a long way to alleviating the club’s lack of bite in attack, however, even if a January move does seem somewhat unlikely. Napoli are currently in the midst of a battle for Champions League qualification in the upper reaches of Serie A, which is something Higuain is central to.

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Indeed, Daniel Storey of Football365 thinks there is little to reports linking the Argentinian and manager Rafael Benitez with moves away from the club:

If the Partenopei do fail to qualify for European football’s elite club competition come the end of the season, then he’s a player who may go in search of pastures new. With that in mind, the Reds must ensure they finish as high up the Premier League table as possible, for there would surely be a host of clubs interested in Higuain that can dangle the carrot of Champions League football.

Liverpool's position among that kind of elite company looks far from secure, however, which could encourage the Reds to pursue more modest targets, such as West Bromwich Albion forward Saido Berahino, who is reportedly very keen on a move to Anfield according to Simon Mullock of the Mirror.

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Per the aforementioned piece, the young forward is looking to force through a move to Merseyside by the end of the January window and is consequently stalling on a new contract. A £20 million fee has been quoted in the article, which would be a lot of money for a player who is still at a relatively early point in his development.

However, as noted by Squawka, despite his tender years, Berahino knows where the back of the net is:

The 21-year-old is not a player who will arrive in January and immediately fire the Reds up the table. In the long term, he looks to have the class to be a fine player, but after a summer window in which Liverpool were perceived to be a little unambitious in their acquisitions, Berahino would do little to sate the desires of supporters hoping for a big-name purchase.