Liverpool make first move to sign €60m star; United yet to 'take concrete steps'

Liverpool have enquired about the contract situation of Cristian Romero, as per Sky Italia, who claim the Reds are challenging Manchester United for his signature.

Calciomercato adds that Liverpool have 'come forward' but that the Old Trafford side has yet to 'take concrete steps for Romero.'

This is a bit of a strange story given that Liverpool recently signed Ibrahima Konate from RB Leipzig and are set to have five senior centre-backs next season and certainly don't need any more.

The Frenchman was on the club's radar for a couple years before he moved to Anfield and Michael Edwards worked on signing him since February but Sky Italia claims that there is interest in Romero.

They say: "In addition to rumours of Manchester United interest (which has not made any official offer), Atalanta records Liverpool's moves around Romero's name: the Reds have asked for information on the Argentine's contractual situation.

"No official offer has arrived at the moment - he is still owned by Juventus."

This story doesn't add up for several reasons, with the main reason being Liverpool's sheer abundance of quality at centre-back and the lack of game time Romero would get and for a reported fee of €60million, it would be terrible business.

Then there's his style of play. The Argentine fits the South American defender stereotype perfectly as the 23-year-old is overzealous and while his aggression enables him to succeed in some ways, he struggles to channel it properly.

For instance, his 96 interceptions this season is world-class for a centre-back as it shows a strong understanding of the game and an ability to read a player's intentions but his 40 fouls from attempted tackles is really high.

Compared to van Dijk, the Dutchman only made 40 interceptions during the 2019/20 Premier League season but he conceded just 7 fouls from attempted tackles and had a ground duel win rate of 69.57%.

Cristian Romero only succeeded with his ground duels 50% of the time this season which essentially makes it a game of roulette when he challenges for the ball.

Romero's inability to read when to make a tackle or when to jockey is what rules him out as a strong candidate to play for Liverpool.

Jurgen Klopp's system relies on its fullbacks flying forward in support of the front three and so it further depends on its centre-backs to win one versus one duels in dangerous areas of the pitch.

It's for this reason that Liverpool struggled without van Dijk and Joe Gomez this season.

As mentioned before, the Dutchman wins close to 70% of his ground duels and rarely commits any fouls while Joe Gomez uses his pace to cover for any balls over the top.

In short, Cristian Romero simply doesn't suit Liverpool and if an enquiry has been made about his contract with Juventus, it's likely that it isn't in relation to this summer's transfer plans.