It was always going to happen wasn’t it.
Suddenly, Leicester City’s Jamie Vardy is no longer an unfashionable striking option in the eyes of England boss Roy Hodgson, not to mention Premier League football fans in general with the former non-league striker currently leading the way as the Premier League’s top scorer with 10 goals to his name so far this term.
What’s more, the inevitable transfer links to some of England’s bigger fish have materialised in recent days with the Liverpool Echo referencing ESPN reports that claim Vardy is on the Reds’ radar for January.
While scoring enough goals has proved a problem for the Reds in Jurgen Klopp’s three games in charge so far, Christian Benteke did get on the scoresheet against Southampton, not to mention Daniel Sturridge returning to the fold soon so to add Vardy to this mix would be seen as somewhat impulsive.
That said, Reds supporters would love the pacey Foxes frontman bagging regular goals for them at the moment with Divock Origi proving the doubters correct with naive performances as Liverpool’s loan frontman in recent games.
One thing is for sure; Jurgen Klopp will probably be a busy man in the New Year with the new German boss surely wanting to add his own stamp to this team he’s inherited from Brendan Rodgers while disposing of some of the deadwood he deems not good enough to still be on the wage bill.
With all of these things in mind, we’ve devised a list of five players who may well end up following Vardy to Anfield in the January transfer window.
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Click on the image below to reveal the five players who could follow Jamie Vardy to Liverpool in January.
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Christopher Nkunku
While Liverpool could certainly do with a few ready-made reinforcements for the here and now to haul the Reds up the Premier League table, one star of tomorrow they’ve been linked with in recent days is Paris Saint-Germain’s 17-year-old central midfielder Chistopher Nkunku.
Also linked with his PSG academy team-mate Lamine Ba, the reports claim the Reds sent scouts to watch the pair in their recent UEFA Youth League fixture against Real Madrid.
With Nkunku being the higher-rated player of the pair, it also appears Liverpool may face a difficult task to prise the player away from the Parc Des Princes with the midfielder claiming he was settled in the French capital in the summer.
Having been a part of PSG’s first team during the International Champions Cup where Nkunku played against Manchester United in the summer, it appears he has a bright future in front of him.
Domenico Berardi
While Liverpool have gotten it wrong with Italian strikers in the recent past in the shape and form of Fabio Borini and Mario Balotelli, another they’re trailing at the minute is Sassuolo’s Domenico Berardi.
Jurgen Klopp’s side are lining up an offer for the Italy Under-21 international according to Metro and with the Italian club having secured his full rights from Juventus for £7.2 million in the summer, we’re sure the Reds would have to pay a hefty bit on top of that to secure his services.
At present however, Sassuolo are being incredibly stand-offish over a potential transfer with managing director Giovanni Carnevali claiming: “I can rule out a January move. That’s not part of our company policy.”
That said, how many times in football before have actions spoken louder than words?
Mario Suarez
Having only joined Fiorentina from Atletico Madrid in the summer, it has taken a few of our Reds supporters by surprise to see Mario Suarez linked with a Liverpool switch in recent days.
These reports emerged from the Daily Star who claim Suarez is unhappy in Florence after only starting two Serie A fixtures under Paulo Sousa with the Spaniard now reportedly wanting out of Stadio Artemi Franchi.
Having been an integral squad member of Diego Simeone during their time together at Atletico, Suarez proved he’s a top class performer and with Liverpool needing reinforcements in central midfield with Lucas Leiva now ageing and James Milner not looked upon by everybody as a sound option, perhaps the Reds should be taking advantage of Suarez’s current situation.
Andrea Ranocchia
As well as Mario Suarez, another Italian-based star currently interesting Liverpool is reportedly Inter Milan’s towering centre back Andrea Ranocchia, according to talkSPORT.
In the early days following Jurgen Klopp’s appointment, many tabloid reports claimed the new Reds boss was going in for the signature of his former player at Borussia Dortmund, Neven Subotic.
However, Klopp was quick to claim he won’t be raiding his former employers so soon and thus it appears an alternative will need to be sought.
Ranocchia is an experienced defender but is yet to start any game under Roberto Mancini in all competitions so far this season so clearly Liverpool would have a shot at signing him if the price was right.
With Klopp desperately needing to add reinforcements at centre back with Martin Skrtel and Dejan Lovren struggling so far this season, a transfer for a centre back such as Ranocchia seems a necessity.
Leroy Sane
With Jurgen Klopp now installed as Liverpool boss, you’d expect him to be putting his Bundesliga connections to good use in the January transfer window with Schalke’s Leroy Sane representing somebody from Klopp’s homeland who has been linked with an Anfield switch.
According to the Daily Mail, the German Under-21 international was a summer target for the Reds but according to Schalke’s sporting director Horst Heldt, the player wasn’t interested in moving to Merseyside.
With there being a clear interest in the player on the Reds’ part under former boss Brendan Rodgers, you’d imagine that Klopp would similarly be interested in the talented youngster but Liverpool’s task could be set to become even more difficult.
This is because Arsenal scouts were deployed at Schalke’s Europa League fixture with Sparta Prague last week to watch Sane in action according to The Mirror so it appears a transfer tug-of-war could well be occurring come January.
