Liverpool Transfer News: Huge Deals and Top Rumours Linked to Brendan Rodgers
Liverpool’s summer transfer plan is a simple one: spend, spend, spend.
The Reds’ 2014/15 campaign closed with a whimper, as a string of poor performances saw their Champions League hopes diminish and result in a sixth-place finish.
Manager Brendan Rodgers needs to invest intelligently over the coming months in the hope that he’ll have a squad capable of hitting the heights next term—should he still be in charge.
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Here’s who could be donning the famous red shirt very soon.
Nathaniel Clyne
Southampton right-back Nathaniel Clyne is one of the most in-demand Englishmen in football right now, and Liverpool are among many chasing his signature.
The Reds had a £10 million bid knocked back by the Saints for the 22-year-old’s signature, per BBC Sport, but they’ll undoubtedly continue their pursuit and meet the club’s demands.
And now, according to James Pearce of the Liverpool Echo, Southampton have named their price for Clyne at £15 million.
English players are notorious for fetching far more than they’re worth in the transfer market, but £15 million for an excellent, young right-back seems something of a bargain by today’s standards.
The Reds are unlikely to hesitate to up their offer, and should Clyne tell Southampton he wants out, then they’ll reluctantly begin negotiations.
However, landing the defender may not be so easy.
Clyne has just one season left on his contract at St Mary’s and recently told the Southampton Daily Echo that he’s happy to remain on the south coast—via Sky Sports:
"I am enjoying my football for Southampton, playing week-in, week-out and it is an up-and-coming club. I am happy playing for Southampton and happy to stay at Southampton as well. My agent is negotiating, so I will just leave it with my agent and I am just going to concentrate on playing my football.
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A new contract announcement could well come soon and throw Liverpool off the scent; and even if that doesn’t happen, they face stiff competition for Clyne.
Bleacher Report’s Sam Tighe believes that a Manchester United bid in inevitable and that Clyne would be a fool to turn down such advances:
Still, he’s just as much of a necessity for Liverpool as he is United, and Rodgers must do all in his power to get the Englishman to Anfield.
Right-back was one of the biggest chinks in the Reds’ armour last term, and without a top-level addition this summer, it could pose yet more problems in 2015/16.
Edin Dzeko
While we can criticise Liverpool’s defence for their poor showing last term, no area in the Reds’ setup deserves more of a battering than up front.
The club’s misfiring strikers ensured that the ghost of Luis Suarez lingered over Anfield for the entire campaign, and there will undoubtedly be a big shuffle over the summer months.
Mario Balotelli was one of the main offenders and he made Tighe’s Premier League Flop XI, as he discussed with Ryan Bailey in Bleacher Report’s exclusive video:
However, the days of goal-shy forwards could soon be a thing of the past, as Fichajes.net reports, via George Bellshaw of Metro, that Edin Dzeko may well be making the switch to Anfield.
The Bosnian would trade sky blue for red as part of a swap deal that would take wantaway star Raheem Sterling to the Etihad.
It’s a crying shame, but it seems Sterling will almost certainly depart at the end of the campaign—it’s just up to Liverpool to make the most of it.
Whether that be getting as much cash as possible for the forward or taking advantage of swaps remains to be seen, but the Reds would be getting a real star in Dzeko.
The 29-year-old played a bit-part role for City in 2014/15, but he showed glimpses of why he’s still lethal in front of goal.
He’s very much a complete striker, too. Players like Fabio Borini are restricted to one style of play, but Dzeko can do it all.
He can get on the last man and make intelligent runs, be in the right place at the right time as a poacher or even play the target-man role.
That’s something Liverpool really need, and although Dzeko’s stats for City this season aren’t fantastic, per WhoScored, regular playing time will give him the chance to prove his worth.
The question remains, though, do the Reds want to take such a gamble?
They played their aces with Balotelli and Rickie Lambert last term and it didn’t pay off, so, could a proven frontman at the highest level be the way to go?
Either way, Rodgers desperately needs to shuffle his pack—without doing so, a top-four place could once again prove elusive next season.
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