Links with €50m Serie A man & Salah must make Olympics decision – Liverpool FC Roundup

March 26, 2021
This Is Anfield

Liverpool face renewed links with two familiar – if still improbable – names on Friday, while we’ve got the latest international-based news, too.

Reds “in the lead” for Rodrigo De Paul

Italian media are getting plenty of mileage out of Liverpool this year, aren’t they?

We’ve had Juve defenders, Inter attackers and everything in between – which is basically where Rodrigo De Paul sits.

The Udinese midfielder was on Leeds United’s radar last year, though the Reds have been on-and-off linked with him over the past few months, too.

Supposedly we were looking for a deal for less than £35m last summer, but now that price is somewhere around the €50m mark (about £43m).

Liverpool and Barcelona are leading the chase, say Tuttoudinese, while they also mention the salary expectations – which are a surprisingly low €3m a year, roughly equivalent to £50,000 a week.

It would certainly be within the Reds’ reach, while the transfer fee itself would seem to be a stretch for Barca, given their financial constraints.

Crunch time approaching on Salah Olympic duty

Liverpool already know they’ll be without Mo Salah, Sadio Mane and Naby Keita for part of next season, as the trio and their national teams have all qualified for the Africa Cup of Nations.

But now we face missing Mo for even longer, as Egypt have confirmed they want him as an overage player in their U23s squad for the Tokyo Olympics.

France24 confirm head coach Shawky Gharib saying they have made the decision “public” to name Salah in the squad and now there must be a “three-way” decision between himself, the Reds forward and Jurgen Klopp.

With Gharib having made his stance clear and Klopp obviously going to lean in the other direction to protect Liverpool’s interests, it’s likely that the No. 11 himself will have to make the final call.

Hopefully, sense prevails and the club do not miss out on Salah’s services for two different international competitions in the same season.

Fans, fixtures and favourites

International updates and a look at what lies ahead for the Reds.

Xherdan Shaqiri claimed two assists and another pair of Liverpool players went up against each other in World Cup qualifying on Thursday night
Reds fans should be present in stadiums for the final two games of the league season…if everything goes to plan
And a former Reds winger has given his up-close assessment of “brilliant” Harvey Elliott, who is starring on loan at Blackburn

Quickfire LFC news

Been a while since we’ve had a new kit leak for next season, so here you go (TIA)

Been a while since we’ve been linked with Turkish goalkeeper Ugurcan Cakir, so here you go. Are we definitely sure he exists? (SW)

Been a while since…actually no, this is new – Kelleher says he’s totally chilled with doing well on the big stage and is learning Irish dancing (LFC)

And the Reds will be involved in a trial over the impact of heading in football as the sport seeks to understand links with dementia (TIA)

Around the Prem

Sheffield United conveniently say it’s all Chris Wilder’s fault that they spent millions on Rhian Brewster instead of getting him on loan (TIA)

Man United will give Ole At The Wheel a new contract even if he wins nothing, which hopefully continues for a long, long, long, long time to come (Telegraph)

Southampton‘s defensive wildling Jannik Vestergaard says it’s a “pat on the back” to be linked with Spurs, before smashing his broadsword and shield together (Daily Echo)

And both West Ham and Crystal Palace want Aaron Ramsey – presumably they’ll need to club together, then find another three teams of a similar level, to pay his obscene wage bill and share the game time around (Calciomercator)

Stupid club of the day

While the world tried to stave off the threat to life of coronavirus, Lazio have decided the rules didn’t apply to them.

Three players tested positive and were allowed to keep training with the group
Twice they fielded asymptomatic players in matches who should have been isolating
Two doctors banned for 12 months, president panned for seven months, club fined €150,000

Astonishing. The decision-makers should be doing community service and points deducted from this season’s tally.