Christian Falk has revealed that Liverpool are ‘watching’ Borussia Monchengladbach midfielder Kouadio ‘Manu’ Kone and has claimed the Bundesliga outfit will ‘lose’ the France U21 international at the end of the season.
Other Premier League clubs such as Newcastle are also showing interest in the 21-year-old while Ligue 1 outfit PSG are also rumoured to be keeping tabs on the dynamic midfielder.
It’s no secret that Jurgen Klopp wants to strengthen his midfield options and although Jude Bellingham is the club’s priority, Kone could prove to be a decent alternative.
“It’s also a question of money but Gladbach knows that they will let Kouadio Koné go in the summer unless there’s an opportunity to keep hold of him,” the BILD journalist told CaughtOffside.
“They don’t want to sell any of their players. They’re having discussions with the goalkeeper [Yann Sommer] who could join Bayern Munich. Koné has time.
“Liverpool are watching him, Newcastle were very interested in him, PSG also interested.
“Bayern says no, that’s my concrete information, they don’t want to buy him. Not this summer, perhaps in future but then he’s gone. Bayern have enough midfield players so they’re not in the race.
“I think Kone will leave in the summer but none of the links are concrete enough where you can say that he’s going to the Premier League or this club or this club. It’s a big market but Gladbach will try to keep him until the summer but then they’ll lose him.”
The Gladbach No. 17 has featured 15 times for Daniel Farke’s side this term and has contributed one goal and one assist – often being deployed in a deep lying midfield role.
The Reds have one of the best holding midfielders around in the form of Fabinho but the Brazil international’s performances have been far from convincing so far this season.
With Liverpool constantly being liked with other players who can operate in the middle of the park such as Enzo Fernandez, Bellingham and Moises Caicedo, Falk has labelled Kone as a ‘plan B for many clubs’ while discussing the former Toulouse man’s price tag.
“There are no offers at the moment, so there are no concrete prices, but we talked about Bellingham, Fernández… I think he’s not in this range but he is a plan B for many clubs,” the reporter added. “Dortmund perhaps will need a player in his position. So, €40m perhaps? But no offers, so no market.”