Liverpool Transfer Rumours: Latest News Surrounding Brendan Rodgers' Plans

Liverpool have been handed a boost in their pursuit of Atletico Madrid’s Arda Turan, with reports suggesting the Spanish club will look to sell the Turkish star this summer.

According to Anthony Chapman of the Daily Express, Diego Simeone will cash in on the 28-year-old to try to fund a move for Santi Cazorla in the upcoming transfer window. The piece also claims that the Spanish champions value Turan at around £26.5 million.

Here are the kind of attributes he would potentially bring to Anfield:

Turan is a pretty unique talent. He has the requisite abilities to thrive in a system that’s based on technical principles, but what sets him apart from a host of other attacking midfielders is his unrelenting intensity off the ball. It’s why he flourishes for Simeone’s team and why he has become an understatedly key player at the Vicente Calderon.

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Encouragingly for the Reds, the Atletico man has previously expressed a willingness to play in the Premier League and for the Anfield club in particular. “I want to play in major leagues”’ said Turan, per Chapman’s piece. “And my dream team is Liverpool”.

Here’s how he’s compared with Liverpool’s other attacking midfield options in league action so far this season:

	Turan	Lallana	Coutinho
Appearances (Sub)	19 (1)	15 (2)	20 (3)
Goals	2	4	3
Assists	4	3	4
Average Passes per Game	41.9	26.9	39.8
Average Key Passes per Game	1.5	1.2	1.3
Average Dribbles per Game	1.5	1.1	2.6
Average Tackles per Game	2.0	2.1	1.7

Landing Turan would be a major coup for the Reds. He’s a world-class player who would not only add an industrious side to their forward forays but some real incision too, as is obvious by the aforementioned statistics. You suspect the Spanish champions would be loath to lose a player as classy as the Turkish star, though, for his influence would be a difficult one to replace.

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From Atletico’s perspective, Turan is a much better fit for their system than Cazorla. There is little difference in terms of their attacking output, but the Spaniard doesn’t have the defensive mettle to compare with the current Rojiblancos man.

He doesn’t have the same edginess to his play either, something that can admittedly see Turan overstep the mark on occasion, per Dermot Corrigan of ESPN FC:

Arguably this area of the Liverpool team isn’t in that drastic need of addressing either. Brendan Rodgers has Raheem Sterling, Adam Lallana, Philippe Coutinho and Lazar Markovic all capable of playing in an attacking midfield berth, meaning the Reds boss should look to bolster other areas of the squad in the summer. Even so, a move for former Manchester United skipper Nemanja Vidic would be a massive surprise.

Nonetheless, according to the Daily Express (h/t Jon Harvey of Metro) the Reds and their Europa League conquerers Besiktas are keen on the 33-year-old defender, who has struggled for form and fitness since moving to Internazionale last summer.

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As of late, things have been going a little bit better for the Serbian, though, per WhoScored.com:

Vidic isn’t quite the force he once was during his peak United days, but if he was to join up with Liverpool he’d add plenty to this group. His experience and leadership skills alone would help the development of what is a pretty young squad at Liverpool, as would his title-winning acumen from his days with the Red Devils.

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However, the Reds’ faithful would surely be unhappy about the club acquiring the services of the former United man. Empire of the Kop certainly can’t see the deal materialising:

Indeed, this is a move that looks very unlikely to happen. Liverpool already have a surfeit of robust central defenders in this squad and Vidic’s previous United connections would surely put the mockers on any potential deal. The Serbian's future could well lie away from the San Siro at the end of the season but to see him at Anfield would be a major turn up for the books.