Yesterday, our friends at Anfield Index caused quite a stir by releasing a podcast with Telegraph journalist Jason Burt, who claimed the club was working hard on a replacement for Coutinho that had so far been undiscussed in the media.
His source claimed that links to Thomas Lemar and Riyad Mahrez are false and Jurgen Klopp has his eyes on a different, so far unannounced target.
Today, Anfield Index spoke with Jonathan Northcroft of the Sunday Times, who corroborated Burt’s suggestions.
Listen to his comments in the tweet below, and give the guys a follow, too:
‼️Jonathan Nortcroft on the linked mystery player…
🎤 Jonathan was speaking to @GagsTandon about Pep Lijnders, Coutinho, transfer targets and VVD on #MediaMatters
🎧 You can listen for FREE via @AnfieldIndexPro's 7 Day Free Trial Offer: https://t.co/HPQF0jcv7x pic.twitter.com/JtYIHfYxpC
— AnfieldIndex (@AnfieldIndex) January 10, 2018
Unlike Burt, Northcroft reckons Liverpool have had a long-standing interest in the potential new recruit – and what’s more – thinks it’s an attainable January transfer too.
So… Playmakers or wingers Liverpool have been interested in under Klopp…?
Christian Pulisic, Julian Brandt, Quincy Promes, Mario Gotze and Julian Draxler come to mind.
All would be more than welcome this month – with Adam Lallana’s rustiness meaning we don’t really have a creative midfielder at the moment.
We struggle to believe Liverpool would sell our best player mid-season for £146m and not have a decent replacement in the pipeline, but then again, we didn’t think we’d enter the season without a new central defender, either.
Our gut feeling..?
Brandt.