Surprise £25m midfielder linked to Reds & young pair set to stay – Liverpool FC Roundup

Liverpool are certainly stepping up pre-season plans this week, with a Bologna double-header soon to come, but transfer plans are progressing slowly, it seems.

 

Betis midfielder rumoured to be on Reds’ list

We’ve so far been linked with roughly a dozen names in replacing Gini Wijnaldum this summer – and that’s if you believe we’ll sign anybody at all for that role.

The newest name is a total surprise and a new rumour as far as we know: Real Betis’ Guido Rodriguez, a combative and tenacious 27-year-old who was part of the Argentina squad which won the Copa America this summer.

In truth, he’s more ‘6’ than ‘8’ if we’re speaking in terms of Liverpool’s 4-3-3 system, but having a natural back-up for Fabinho in the squad wouldn’t be a particularly bad thing – which just makes the price tag look unlikely.

Spanish outlet La Razon say we’re willing to pay €30 million, a little over £25m, but Betis won’t go any lower as they have to pay 25% of the fee to Rodriguez’s former club. They need to sell to buy this summer, and we could allow them to do that with a big bid.

An interesting, but perhaps unlikely, name to add to the mix.

 

Reds rumours of the day

INNSBRUCK, AUSTRIA - Thursday, July 29, 2021: Liverpool's Harvey Elliott during a pre-season friendly match between Liverpool FC and Hertha BSC at the Tivoli Stadion. (Pic by Jürgen Faichter/Propaganda)

  • Nikola Milenkovic rumours are much older: the Fiorentina defender has a year left on his deal and we’re now battling West Ham for him, apparently. On a free next summer, we could see it. Paying £10m or more right now after signing Konate and getting the original gang back from injury? Not so much.

 

Latest Liverpool FC news

GRÖDIG, AUSTRIA - Friday, July 23, 2021: Liverpool's manager Jürgen Klopp during the pre-match warm-up before a pre-season friendly match between Liverpool FC and FSV Mainz 05 at the Greisbergers Betten-Arena. (Pic by Jürgen Faichter/Propaganda)

 

Latest Liverpool FC pre-season updates

Click the image above for the latest pre-season news regarding the Reds as Klopp’s squad head to Evian!

Meanwhile, our up-for-sale duo look set to feature, but Thiago might be eased back in more gradually. And here you can see the six Reds players who did not travel to France, instead heading back to Merseyside early.

 

Latest transfer chat elsewhere

LONDON, ENGLAND - JUNE 13: Harry Kane of England looks on during the UEFA Euro 2020 Championship Group D match between England and Croatia at Wembley Stadium on June 13, 2021 in London, England. (Photo by Shaun Botterill - UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)

  • Ruben Loftus-Cheek wants game time this year and Thomas Tuchel says his future is in his own hands. Which sounds like a nice way of saying “well you’re not getting here mate, so you best take off”

 

Tweet of the day and match of the night

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