Liverpool have earmarked a transfer for Charlton Athletic centre-back Joe Gomez, as Uruguayan Sebastian Coates looks like he’ll move to Sunderland for £4m, writes John Percy in the Telegraph.
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Coates arrived at Anfield in 2011, but has remarkably only made 12 Premier League appearances in that time. He only played ten times in the top flight for Sunderland while on loan this season just gone, but started to play very well towards the end of the campaign, which has reportedly prompted the Black Cats to sign him permanently.
Gomez is only 18-years-old but starts for Charlton and is a target of Arsenal as well, reckons the Telegraph.
He’s terrifically talented, and suits Liverpool’s transfer policy of targeting exciting youngsters rather than household names. Gomez is a regular for England Under-19s, but the report claims that Charlton will hold out for a fee of around £7m for the wonderkid, while our opening bid will be half that: £3.5m.
It’s unlikely that if Gomez were to sign, he’d slot straight into the first-team, as top clubs need experienced, proven heads in central defence – so a loan deal back to a Championship outfit seems plausible.