Liverpool Transfer News: Jan Molby Predicts January Activity, Latest Rumours

Liverpool legend Jan Molby believes manager Jurgen Klopp should target players from the Bundesliga to sign during the January transfer window amid rumours linking the Reds with Schalke 04 youngster Leroy Sane and Borussia Dortmund midfielder Ilkay Gundogan.

Writing for the Liverpool Echo, Molby complimented Klopp on the work he's been able to do early with the Reds before advising him to strengthen the team with players he's more familiar with:

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I’d like him to do business in the January window because there’s everything to play for.

[…] For Klopp as a new manager he’ll instantly have identified something he can improve upon – he’ll be thinking ‘we’re missing this and I know where to go to get it’.

For me there’s nothing wrong if he wants to go back to Germany, Jurgen should work in the market he knows best.

He’s a fan of a strong running game and that’s something you get in the Bundesliga so the players from there will be used to that already.

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Molby's advice comes at a time when the Reds are strongly linked with two Bundesliga players in particular, in Sane and Gundogan. Bild (h/t Daily Star's Jonathan Green) believes the Reds will battle Arsenal for the former, while Gazzetta dello Sport (h/t Daily Star, via Liverpool Echo's Kristian Walsh) thinks Juventus will be the main competition for the latter.

Boris Streubel/Getty Images

In the case of the latter, the links are obvious. Gundogan played under Klopp with Dortmund, signing for Die Schwartzgelben in 2011 and leading the team to the Bundesliga-DFB Pokal double.

He signed a new contract with Dortmund prior to the 2015-16 campaign, which came as a shock after he spent much of the previous season angling for a move away from the club.

Per Bleacher Report's Lars Pollmann, Dortmund must be thanking their lucky stars he stayed:

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Twenty-two games into the season, even his harshest critics, the fans who booed him and bashed him for what they perceived to be ungratefulness on various social media platforms, will have to agree that Gundogan's staying at Dortmund is one enormous piece of good fortune for the club.

Under new head coach Thomas Tuchel, Gundogan has rediscovered his form that put him in the cusp of world-class in his side's amazing run in the Champions League in the 2012/13 campaign. Now a year removed from a mysterious back injury that kept him off the pitch for 14 months between August 2013 and October 2014, the 25-year-old is perhaps Tuchel's most important midfielder.

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The 25-year-old has been sensational playing in a deeper role than before, pulling the strings from the base of midfield. With Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Henrikh Mkhitaryan taking care of the scoring load, Gundogan has been free to distribute the ball without having to worry too much about running into the box.

Gundogan isn't expected to leave Dortmund in January, having just signed a new contract, but he could become one of the most wanted players on the market during the summer if he impresses at UEFA Euro 2016.

Similarly, Schalke's Sane isn't expected to leave the Bundesliga in January, despite interest from abroad. The 19-year-old is enjoying a superb breakout campaign in Gelsenkirchen, via Squawka Football:

A versatile attacking weapon, Sane can play as a striker, attacking midfielder or winger, with his technical ability and raw athleticism proving most effective out wide. He looks like a future superstar, although Bundesliga blogger Cristian Nyari thinks he may have already reached that level:

Sane has incredible potential and is already a phenomenal player, evidenced by the fact he recently made his full debut for World Champions Germany. As a teenager, he more than holds his own against the best forwards the Bundesliga has to offer.

Schalke will have no interest whatsoever in selling, particularly in January, and Sane seems unlikely to leave Germany anytime soon. He's still developing and learning, and the people around him will likely advise him the smartest thing to do is stay in Germany until he's ready.

The Bundesliga generally does a good job of keeping its biggest talents in Germany until they're fully grown, and with Sane, things likely won't be different.

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