Liverpool have held a “secret meeting” with the father of Atletico Madrid midfielder Saul Niguez, according to the Sunday People.
Alan Nixon writes in the Sunday People that Brendan Rodgers is keen to sign the 19-year-old central defensive midfielder, who is currently out on loan at Rayo Vallecano.
Nixon writes:
Rodgers knows Saul has a fixed price of £20million in his contract with Atletico. But an offer of around £12m may work.
With Lucas Leiva sidelined for a lengthly amount of time, Liverpool may have been forced to step up their pursuit of a defensive midfielder.
A report by Joel Ramey of Squawka back in October 2013, describes Niguez as an emerging talent in Spain:
Highly-regarded by parent club Atletico Madrid, much like Oliver Torres, Saul Niguez was sent out on-loan to gain experience. Rayo have been struggling badly this season, winning just two of their eight games played so far, but Saul, with a club second-best Performance Score of 140 points, is proving one of the club’s few bright spots.
Niguez has made 18 appearances for Real Vallecano this season in La Liga, and boasts an average pass accuracy of 79%, and wins 48% of his duels, according to Squawka.
His disciplinary record may be of some concern, tallying up five yellow cards and one red card already this season, whilst he has made four defensive errors this campaign, but created four chances.
Although yet to have won a cap for the Spanish senior side, he has played six times for Spain’s Under-21s, scoring once.
Niguez may play for Vallecano against his parent club Atletico tonight in La Liga when the two sides meet at the Campo de Vallecás. Kick-off is 6pm (UK time) and it’s live on Sky Sports 1.
The January transfer window shuts on Friday, with Liverpool yet to have made any signings.
Rodgers, however, hinted on Saturday that he has not given up hope of signing Basel winger Mohamed Salah, who was thought to be close to joining Chelsea.
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