The Daily Mirror leads this morning with the story that Liverpool could up their interest in Real Madrid midfielder Asier Illarramendi, who has officially been put up for sale by the Spanish giants after a disappointing season.
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According to the Mirror, we’re currently leading the race for the 25-year-old’s services, with the outgoing European champions willing to accept as little as £10m to ensure that they get the player off their books.
This certainly seems a little far-fetched considering they paid Real Sociedad close to £30m for him just two years ago. However, if any team were likely to accept such a heavy loss on a player, it would be Madrid.
The Spaniard is certainly not as bad as Real would have us believe either. He’s played 87 times for them over the last two years, winning four major trophies, and you must remember that in Madrid it’s easy to become a sideshow to the Cristiano Ronaldo show. People only miss you when you’re gone.
Supposedly, Brendan Rodgers and co will open negotiations with an £8.5m offer and go from there. The defensive midfielder would certainly be a decent acquisition considering the impending departure of Steven Gerrard, while it will be interesting to see, if we were to get him, whether further additions would follow as we revamp our midfield.
One to keep an eye on this.