The Athletic: Klopp personally enquired about £50m EURO 2020 star; Liverpool players very 'impressed'

Reporting for the Athletic, James Pearce reports that Liverpool want to sign John McGinn from Aston Villa but are put off by their £50million asking price.

The Reds are scouring the market for a new central midfielder after Georginio Wijnaldum sealed a summer move to PSG where he will reportedly earn £160,000/week after tax but their first choice options are all very expensive.

As Anfield Central first revealed, Liverpool cooled interest in Yves Bissouma after they were told to pay £50million to sign him and it seems likely they will face the same fate with McGinn.

Liverpool's interest in John McGinn

Liverpool's interest in John McGinn was first reported by the Sunday Post, as cited by Not the Old Firm and they say that Manchester United are also interested in Scotland's EURO 2020 star.

And now the Athletic's James Pearce has corroborated the story. He says the no.7 will also cost Liverpool £50m and despite Jurgen Klopp reportedly being an admirer, this will likely result in the Reds taking a step back.

He writes: "Jurgen Klopp wanted to know whether John McGinn ever stopped running on a match day.

"It sounds funny but the German was serious, so much so that he asked the question to his Scotland left-back Andy Robertson, who knows McGinn well from the international set-up."

Despite Villa demanding £50m, Pearce says "the interest from Liverpool is very real."

Could Liverpool sign McGinn this summer?

Given that Wijnaldum left the club without generating a transfer fee, Liverpool will need to raise funds by selling Marko Grujic, Divock Origi, Harry Wilson and Neco Williams and after that, Pearce suggests that 'the landscape might change.'

While I understand the logic behind Liverpool's transfer model and we know Jurgen Klopp has worked wonders with the players he's been given, I can't help but wonder what the German could achieve with the budgets afforded to Chelsea and the Manchester clubs.

We bang on about net spend at times but if Klopp was able to go out and sign the likes of Jadon Sancho and Kai Havertz there's no telling what the 54-year-old manager could do given he's worked wonders with a negative net spend.