Liverpool prepared to pay 'massive' €70m asking price; talks held and personal terms not a problem

Leicester City's asking price for Youri Tielemans "would be massive", according to the Liverpool Echo's Paul Gorst, as he still has two years on his contract.

The journalist said: “Generally if the link is from the player’s homeland there’s a school of thought that the info is coming from his camp, but I haven’t actually seen a solid link myself beyond the usual rumours that do the rounds.

"I certainly think he is a player Liverpool like, he has quality and at 24 is at the ideal age. A real issue would be Leicester under no pressure to sell, so price would be massive. That said, I’ve not been made aware of any genuine, active interest at this stage. I believe a Wijnaldum replacement is needed though.”

Reports recently have suggested that although the Foxes will demand an enormous amount of money for Tielemans, the Reds would be willing to meet their asking price to secure the midfielder's signature.

TeamTalk cites Het Nieuwsblad, who asserts that Liverpool are happy to pay Leicester City’s asking price for the Belgian. Brendan Rodgers's side is demanding between €70m and €80m which the Reds are apparently happy to pay even if that does sound unrealistic.

The problem that Liverpool have, if they are genuinely interested in signing Tielemans this summer, is that a string of strong performances for Belgium at the EUROs could see his valuation swell even further.

My issue with signing Tielemans is not that I don't think he's a good player it's more a case of him not being the right fit for Liverpool. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Yves Bissouma is the best option for the Reds.

Another reason why I doubt Liverpool will sign Tielemans is that I can't see them stepping back from Bissouma only to pursue the Belgian for a much higher fee.

Anfield Central was told in May that Brighton will demand around £50million for Bissouma which saw the Reds cool their interest in him for the time being to assess the market and to gauge what opportunities they have this summer.

Tielemans is not so much better than the Malian that he should command £10-15m more and I believe that Bissouma is actually a much better fit for Liverpool and would increase Liverpool's ability to press teams high up the pitch.

He also adds a greater ability to resist opposition press, with his tight control and dribbling ability superior to Tielemans'.