Though Liverpool are expected to secure a deal with Wolves for Portuguese midfielder Matheus Nunes, they could face competition for his signature.
The circumstances are unclear, but before joining Wolves from Sporting CP in August, Nunes was poised to make the move to Anfield – only for it to fall through.
Arriving in the Midlands as a club-record signing, the 24-year-old was very quickly tipped for a switch elsewhere.
His most likely destination remains Liverpool, who are said to have made a commitment to return for the Brazilian-born midfielder after the breakdown of their initial pursuit, and a deal worth £44 million has been mooted.
But according to the Telegraph‘s Mike McGrath, Chelsea have now emerged as rivals in the market, with Nunes on a five-man shortlist of targets.
It is claimed that Nunes is being considered along with Moises Caicedo, Declan Rice, Amadou Onana and Enzo Fernandez, while they are almost certainly tracking Jude Bellingham, too.
Five of those players have also been linked with Liverpool, who will be wary of entering a bidding war for any particular target.
That is certainly a concern when it comes to rivalling Chelsea for Nunes, with the London club backed heavily by new co-owner Todd Boehly.
Chelsea have courted controversy of late for their free-spending approach and excessively long contracts, leading UEFA to propose a new five-year limit for deals to prevent clubs from circumventing FFP regulations.
However, that has seemingly not changed their plans, with Boehly expected to finance more big-money buys on top of the £423 million paid to sign 15 players including Wesley Fofana (£75m), Marc Cucurella (£60m), Mykhailo Mudryk (£88.5m) and Raheem Sterling (£47.5m).
As with Bellingham, Liverpool may be required to convince the likes of Nunes that they are the right project beyond the financial incentives on offer elsewhere.
“There are obviously plenty of different ways you can do it, but it’s all based on the situation you are in,” Jurgen Klopp explained of plans to rebuild his squad.
“Especially with the things happening around. Chelsea with the new ownership obviously, nobody knows exactly how they do it, how they can spend this much money.
“Other teams, nobody likes me talking about that…
“But transition needs time if you don’t have endless money, otherwise you can change overnight pretty much, bringing in 10 players.”
Fan Comments