The agent of a Belgium-based prospect has revealed that he received contact from Liverpool regarding his client.
Gerald Sagoe, who represents Zulte Waregem teenager Pape Demba Diop, was speaking to Tuttomercatoweb when he said that he’s had interest from various clubs in the teenage midfielder.
When asked if prospective suitors had contacted him over a possible transfer, the agent replied: “Yes, towards the end of last season while he was busy with the national team we were contacted by Liverpool and we had preliminary meetings in Paris.
“Three French teams have expressed interest and some Italian teams, including Napoli, have expressed interest. Together to my lawyer Alessandro Mazzucato we will have some appointments in Germany in the next few weeks. Let’s see what happens.”
Diop’s situation is reminiscent of another reported Liverpool transfer target in Romeo Lavia, who’s the same age (19), plays in broadly the same position (central midfield) and also suffered relegation with his club from the top flight this year.
However, while the Southampton talent is mainly a holding midfielder, the Zulte Waregem youngster tends to shuffle between the number 6, 8 and 10 roles (Transfermarkt).
He was the top scorer at the Africa Under-20 Cup of Nations earlier this year with five goals – including a hat-trick in a 4-0 demolition of Egypt – as Senegal went on to win the tournament, and he also represented his country at the Under-20 World Cup in May.
His senior experience in Europe is extremely limited though, amounting to just two appearances totalling one half of a football match (Transfermarkt), so if Liverpool were to sign him, he’d either link up with the under-21 squad or be loaned out to gain some much-needed game-time.
The Reds’ interest in Diop doesn’t seem to go beyond initial contact with his agent as things stand, so a prospective move to Anfield still seems some way off.
Nonetheless, with Sagoe describing his client as ‘a very strong character’ and ‘a box-to-box midfielder with excellent game vision’ who’s also ‘a very fast player, with great stamina’ (Tuttomercatoweb), this is an intriguing albeit left-field transfer link.
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