Michael Edwards can gazump Barcelona for £40.5m striker - he must act fast though

Liverpool should hijack Barcelona's move to sign Memphis Depay for free just days after PSG did the same thing to sign Gini Wijnaldum.

The Lyon forward is available for free this summer, with his contract set to expire at the end of the month and with Liverpool in the market for an attacker, signing Depay makes perfect sense.

PSG have already hijacked a transfer target from Barcelona by signing Georginio Wijnaldum this week and after years of watching the Catalonians steal Liverpool's best and brightest, it would be great to finally get the better of them in the transfer market.

Why would Depay be a good fit for Liverpool?

The former Manchester United no.7 got 22 goal and 12 assists this season and would be a fantastic addition to Jurgen Klopp's squad.

Still only 27, he can play centre-forward, on the left wing, as a false nine or even as an attacking midfielder which would give the Reds several options to shape up in attack.

He's also fantastic at set-pieces which would mean that, along with Alexander-Arnold and Thiago, Liverpool would be hugely unpredictable from free kicks around the box as well as from corners.

One of the Reds' biggest issues recently has been predictability and poor chance conversion - two problems that Depay could help solve. He's got trickery on the ball, makes intelligent runs in behind and can also score from range.

Liverpool haven't had anyone that can score from outside the box with regularity since Phil Coutinho left to join Barcelona.

What would the financial implications be?

As Depay is a free agent from July 1st, he is free to talk to interested clubs and there is no need to pay Lyon a transfer fee which means the only financial implications would be his wage.

Transfermarkt values him at £40.5million but his contract situation means that signing him is the ideal financial solution to Liverpool's need for a new forward.

The Dutchman reportedly only earns £87,000 per week which means that Liverpool could easily make him an offer that would see him see him make nearly double his current wage and offer the chance to win the Premier League and the Champions League.

Significantly, he has his own representation (TEAM DEPAY) which would help Liverpool save on any potential agents fees.

Why would Depay move to Liverpool?

With Virgil van Dijk at Anfield, the Reds have someone that could convince him to move to Merseyside.

The former Southampton defender can help Jurgen Klop sell the idea of playing in the Premier League and given the issues Barcelona have had recently, Liverpool are much more stable and are by some distance the better run club.

Depay need only look at how easy it was for Wijnaldum to change his mind about moving to Barcelona to have doubt cast on his free-agent move to La Liga at which point Liverpool could swoop in and sign him.