Personal terms agreed: Jorg Schmadtke has connection to complete signing of £31,000/week stunner

Liverpool can put Jorg Schmadtke's father-son relationship with Borussia Monchengladbach Head of First Team Football to sign 22-year-old Manu Kone.

The young star, who earns just £31,000/week at Werder Bremen, has been heavily linked with a move to Anfield this summer and while the trail went cold following the acquisition of Dominik Szoboszlai, links to a move to Liverpool have surfaced once more.

And Sporting Director Schmadtke will undoubtedly play a key role in bringing him to Anfield, highly reliable journalist Christian Falk reports.

Kone to Liverpool - what's the story?

Liverpool reportedly agreed personal terms with Kone in June and at the time, talks were "progressing" over a €45M (£38M) move to the Premier League.

Now, Christian Falk tells Give Me Sport that Jorg Schmadtke can put his relationship with his son, Nils, who works as Head of First Team Football for Borussia Monchengladbach.

He said: "He’s also on the list of Liverpool. You know, Schmadtke has an eye on him for six months.

"Funny thing is that his son is working at Gladbach as a manager, so you see, the direction is very short.”

Why is Manu Kone such an exciting option for Liverpool?

Defensive midfielders can often be some of the more "boring" players in a team. Fabinho, for instance, is hardly an eye-catching player even if he has been an excellent player for the Reds since his switch from AS Monaco in 2018.

The same cannot be said about Kone.

Not only is he thrilling to watch - from tackles to marauding runs - the data is there to back it up. This is particularly important given the reliance of the Liverpool recruitment team on data to support decisions on which players to sign.

Not only is he highly effective in defensive situations, shutting attacks down with relative ease, he ranks in the 96th percentile for take-ons completed per 90 (1.97).

That's an absurd stat for a holding midfielder and should he sign for Liverpool, it will aid their ability to play out from the back.

In case you've never watched Kone, you need to watch this YouTube video. If you're not excited by the thought of signing him yet, you will be afterwards.

He's all action.