Liverpool Transfer News: Latest on Cristian Tello, Neven Subotic Rumours

Liverpool could take advantage of FC Porto's unwillingness to pay Barcelona's asking price for on-loan winger Cristian Tello, if the latest rumours from Spain are to be believed.

Miguel Rico of Catalan-based newspaper Mundo Deportivo (h/t Metro's Jamie Sanderson) reports Tello's loan deal contains a £9 million clause to make the move permanent, but following their Champions League exit, the Portuguese club no longer wishes to spend that much money on the player.

Sanderson claims manager Jurgen Klopp is eyeing a January deal, although it's difficult to see how that would work, as Tello is still in his second year of a two-year loan deal. Unless Porto send him back to Barcelona, which they have no obligation to do, he won't be available for signing in January.

Paulo Duarte/Associated Press

The 24-year-old, who moved back and forth between Barcelona and Espanyol during his youth career before finally catching on with the Blaugrana in 2010, appeared in five of Porto's Champions League matches this season, making two starts, per WhoScored.com.

He hasn't impressed enough to warrant a big transfer fee, and the Dragons generally try to spend as little as possible and use their tremendous scouting system in South America to add to their squad. Additions like James Rodriguez, Joao Moutinho and Jackson Martinez are prime examples of this.

They would still like to keep Tello in Portugal, per Rico, but for a fee significantly less than the proposed £9 million. Barcelona are unlikely to budge on their demands, however, as the Catalans spent a lot of time and effort developing the winger.

For a club like Liverpool, £9 million is hardly a transfer fee worth losing sleep over, so it's easy to see why Klopp may be thinking of taking a chance on a talented player who is yet to put it all together. As you can see below, he has shown glimpses of his enormous potential:

Tello plays the game at a blistering pace and displays excellent vision and timing. He's a very good finisher and a brilliant technician, but rather than show his wide range of flicks and tricks, he'll usually keep his dribbles simple and effective.

The Reds lack strong wing players that fit Klopp's counter-attacking system, and Tello could be a cost-effective, low-risk investment that could pay huge dividends. Even if he never lives up to his potential, the Spaniard would at the very least add depth at a position that is sorely lacking.

More Neven Subotic Rumours

Oliver Hardt/Getty Images

German tabloid Bild (h/t Liverpool Echo's David Prentice) continue to claim Borussia Dortmund defender Neven Subotic has a “60 percent chance” of moving to Anfield, and he could be available for as little as £3.5 million.

The Serbian has barely featured for the Bundesliga giants in 2015-16 after a poor stretch of form last season, and Borussia seem ready to cash in on his services and allow him to try to rediscover his best form somewhere else.

Subotic played his best football under Klopp with Die Schwartzgelben, so its stands to reason he would love the opportunity to move to Anfield and see if the two can rekindle their old magic, which looked like this:

The 27-year-old makes sense as a transfer target considering Liverpool's ongoing injury crisis at the position. Dejan Lovren became the latest to go down with an injury during the 2-2 draw against West Bromwich Albion, and per James Pearce of the Liverpool Echo, his status moving forward is unclear.

Meanwhile, Joe Gomez remains sidelined and Mamadou Sakho has missed significant time as well. It wouldn't hurt adding an experienced option to the mix for depth purposes, and at the reported fee, the Reds could do far worse than Subotic.

At his very best, he was considered one of the Bundesliga's best defenders, and while it's been some time since he's resembled that player, he's still just 27 years old. Similar to Tello, the Serb would be a low-risk investment that could yield significant rewards.

Follow @ReverschPass