Liverpool can trigger £50.5M release clause to finally sign midfielder - dream signing gathering pace

Matheus Nunes rejected the "contract of a lifetime" to wait for Liverpool and he's the perfect long-term midfield target for the Reds.

Jurgen Klopp has been very vocal this summer about his squad not needing another player in midfield.

Ever since pre-season began, the German has insisted he doesn't need to make any more additions, highlighting the number of midfielders he has at his disposal.

Through injury and illness, however, his options in midfield have dwindled and he can no longer call on Thiago Alcantara, Curtis Jones or Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

Klopp's stance on signing a new midfielder has softened, telling his post-Fulham press conference: "A transfer must make sense now and in the long-term.

"We have eight midfielders. We still have enough midfielders. It’s not that we lack midfielders, it’s just that some of them are injured.

"This isn’t a good situation, I don’t like it at all. We have to see how we react on that, but for sure not panic."

Naby Keita missed the first Premier League game of the season due to illness but he is back in training and is expected to be fit to face Crystal Palace on Monday.

The Guinean is a sublime player on his day but question marks linger over his availability and whether or not he can remain injury-free this season.

As Klopp said, Liverpool must not panic but they don't need to with Matheus Nunes almost begging to join the Reds.

He rejected an €11M contract from Wolverhampton Wanderers - the "contract of a lifetime, according to Correio da Manha, via Paisley Gates - to join a club like Liverpool that can offer silverware and Champions League football.

His contract with Sporting Lisbon includes a £50.5M release clause that can be triggered to sign him at any point this summer.

Klopp has spoken about how new signings "must make sense" in the long-term even if they would solve the current midfield injury crisis.

The German has always been a fan of having a smaller, more close-knit squad over having more players than he needs.

While I understand the merit of such an approach, Klopp can ill afford to gamble this season's promise on the hopes that his injury-prone midfielders can all stay fit long enough to sustain a Premier League title charge.

Nunes would be a brilliant signing now and over the course of a likely five-year contract so not signing him on that premise alone doesn't add up.

Even if Liverpool sign Jude Bellingham next summer, Nunes wouldn't suddenly be a burden.

The Reds need an overhaul of their midfield in the next couple of seasons as the likes of Thiago (31), Jordan Henderson (32) and James Milner (36) find themselves at the ends of their careers at the top level.

Thiago, in a technical sense, could play until he's 35 but it seems his body will tragically prevent him from truly peaking again in his 30s while Milner's contract expires at the end of the current campaign.

Hendo, despite the value he offers with his leadership and experience, is not the player he once was and he's often run around by younger midfielders and is unable to match the tempo anymore.

The Liverpool skipper is not an issue, per se, but the longer he remains a guaranteed starter despite form, the more rivals' midfields will continue to operate at a much higher level.

Nunes (23) would give Liverpool all they need to succeed this season while also providing the quality to continue starring for the Reds for several years.