Real Madrid are reportedly close to signing Inter Milan midfielder Mateo Kovacic, in a deal which could kick-start a flurry of transfer activity between now and the end of the month.
Kovacic, who was widely linked with Liverpool earlier in the window, is the subject of reports from EuroSport – among others – who claim that the Spanish giants are on the verge of completing a £21m move.
It’s something of a nonsensical move on the part of former Reds boss Rafael Benitez, who already has the likes of Toni Kroos and Luca Modric at his disposal, but at 21 years of age they could well see Kovacic as one for the future.
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If these reports do prove to be true – remember it is, of course, entirely possible that they won’t be – Inter Milan could conceivably revive their interest in Liverpool’s Lucas Leiva (via talkSPORT), who is free to leave Anfield and missed out on squad for the Stoke City game last weekend, as Sky Sports report.
That would then leave the door open for us to sign Asier Illarramendi, who has been linked with us on and off all summer – as The Telegraph report – and would be even further down the pecking order at the Bernabeu.
The 25-year-old would certainly be the most obvious candidate, should we decide that we want a replacement for Lucas, while Benitez would likely be open to helping out his old club by selling us one of his fringe players.
However, there are no guarantees – even if Lucas and Kovacic make their respective moves – that we would be interested. We’ve already got Jordan Henderson, James Milner, Emre Can and Joe Allen battling for one of those midfield spots and it’s hard to see where we’d fit the Spaniard in.
Indeed, former Liverpool favourite turned television pundit Mark Lawrenson agrees. He put in his Liverpool Echo column this weekend that he wouldn’t expect there to be any replacement for Lucas, describing the Brazilian as a ‘victim of a shift in the way the game is going at present.’
Still, plenty for Rodgers and the Liverpool supporters to mull over as the transfer windows enters its final fortnight, and the slightest hint that we might still have something to get excited about.
We’ll be watching on with interest.