Speculative reports in both England and Italy are tipping Liverpool to renew their interest in Lazio forward Keita Balde Diao, who is seemingly set for showdown talks over his future with the Italian club.
The 20-year-old, who began his career in Spain as part of Barcelona’s famed La Masia academy, is a left winger by trade and could potentially provide that little bit of extra width that our current squad has been lacking.
Our rumoured pursuit of Barcelona’s Adama Traore, now set for a move to Aston Villa (via Daily Express), suggests that it is a position we’re looking to strengthen in the near future – although whether we’re hoping to do so before the transfer window closes at the end of this month remains to be seen.
Brendan Rodgers has brought in seven new players already and may well be hesitant to risk disrupting his side with more fresh faces, especially now that our Premier League campaign is up and running. However, if a player such as Keita – who fits perfectly with our classic transfer policy of buying young players with re-sale value – becomes available, then he could yet be tempted into making an exception.
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Against Stoke, it became clear that we lack a player naturally suited to playing on the opposite flank to Jordon Ibe, and while it’s rare for us to play with two out-and-out wide men it would be a useful option for us to have.
Keita could be just the right sort of player, after scoring twice in 28 appearances to help fire his club into this season’s Champions League qualifiers – where they’re due to take on Bayer Leverkusen later this month.
According to the Metro, the move to Merseyside could go ahead, although they’ve never been the most reliable of sources. Their story is based on a piece from Tuttosport in Italy, which claims that the player is up for grabs for around 15m Euros – the equivalent of around £10m.
We’ll remain politely pessimistic with this rumour, which also did the rounds earlier this summer, at this stage – but we could do a lot worse than this young starlet if we are to sign another player this month.