Liverpool ready to gazump Man Utd after Red Devils made official €50million offer

Liverpool signed Ibrahima Konate from RB Leipzig but are still heavily linked with a move to sign Cristian Romero and as I said last week, the interesting thing is that the links come from different publications each time.

Klopp does not need a new centre-back in the way that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer does but the links continue.

What are the links to Romero?

Calciomercato initially reported that Liverpool had ‘come forward’ for the Juve star but Manchester Utd had yet to ‘take concrete steps for Romero.

Sky Italia then claimed that Jurgen Klopp’s side had asked for info about his contractual situation while there was still interest from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

Then, Spanish publication AS claimed that Liverpool were ready to blow Manchester United out of the water with a €50million offer but that it was a complicated transfer.

Gian Piero Gasperini is keen to make Romero's move to Stadio di Bergamo permanent but Juve, as per Tuttosport, will only listen to ‘crazy’ offers in the region of €60million which, as I said on the 13th of June, would be terrible business from Liverpool.

Unpacking a confusing transfer saga

It seems massively unlikely that Liverpool will spend their transfer budget on signing what would be their sixth senior centre-back behind van Dijk, Gomez, Konate, Phillips and Matip but having said that, the links simply won't go away.

It's possible that it's simply agent talk or a story that's been disseminated by Juventus to attempt to drive up his price to create the illusion of a bidding war between Atalanta, Utd and Liverpool.

The Red Devils need a partner for Harry Maguire after they conceded more Premier League goals than Liverpool despite the Anfield outfit fielding 20 different centre-back pairing this season.

I will be shocked if there is any kind of truth to this story.

Where is Liverpool's focus this summer?

Jurgen Klopp's focus this summer absolutely needs to be on signing a versatile attacker as well as a replacement for Georginio Wijnaldum although the latter needn't be an immediate starter given the quality available in the middle of the park.

Jordan Henderson, Fabinho and Thiago will likely be Liverpool's first choice centre-midfield trio and beyond them, Klopp will be hoping to sign a new midfielder and that the likes of Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain can avoid niggling injuries.

Upfront, signing an attacker should be the priority as Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane will leave at the turn of the year for AFCON which will see Liverpool shorthanded for the crucial January fixture list.

Several player sales are to be expected as well but the focus must be on strengthening the team to bounce back and win silverware next season.