Our landlord is an honest guy and he can’t help but admit that a lot of rivals fans are laughing at our Liverpool supporters here in the Football Transfer Tavern this evening!
But why you ask?
Well Metro are claiming that Liverpool are interested in pursuing an eye-watering £75 million deal for Bayern Munich superstar Robert Lewandowski and the laughs are audible amongst our Manchester United fans in particular!
Having scored 25 goals already this season, there isn’t a team in world football that wouldn’t benefit from the Polish international’s clinical finishing and if he were to even become available in the summer, surely other clubs would have the upper hand on Liverpool in the transfer market?
One of those teams is Real Madrid who have been trailing another forward to relieve the pressure on Karim Benzema for a little while now and with Liverpool making hard work of a top four finish so far this season, surely they need to be in the Champions League to even start thinking of signing marquee names?
But our Liverpool supporters claim what about the Jurgen Klopp factor.
Well, in fairness to the German boss, it is the summer transfer window where we’ll see his true potential with Klopp seemingly content to sail through until then with what he’s got in the main, barring a potential swoop for Alex Teixeira.
We’ve decided to humour our Reds fans by the bar today while devising a list of five players who could end up following Lewandowski to Anfield if he joins (we’re highly doubtful however!)
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Click on the image below to reveal the five players who could follow Robert Lewandowski to Liverpool if he joins.
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Joel Matip
Back on January 13th, The Mirror claimed Schalke defender Joel Matip was set to join Liverpool in the summer after stalling on a new deal at the Veltins Arena.
A name that Reds fans are more than familiar with now given the constant links, Liverpool will need more of a long-term solution at centre back with Steven Caulker surely just a short-term fix.
The towering Matip stands at 6 ft 4 in and is a domineering presence who is also the right age at 24-years-old meaning that in theory, Liverpool should get the best out of him if signed.
While Dejan Lovren has improved in spells this term, the overriding feeling among the Kop is that Liverpool need another defender to be putting further genuine pressure on the whole defensive crop to deliver more consistent performances.
Granit Xhaka
While Arsenal have been strongly linked with a swoop for Borussia Monchengladbach’s Granit Xhaka so too have Liverpool with Metro linking the Reds with a £37 million swoop earlier this month.
Make no mistake; a deal won’t be possible this January but in the summer, there could be more room for negotiation.
Both the Reds and the Gunners had recently been buoyed by comments from Gladbach’s sporting director Max Eberl who alluded to the fact that Xhaka might be available in the near future.
He claimed to Bild: “We have lost players like Reus and Ter Stegen, Kruse and Kramer.
“In the summer perhaps Granit Xhaka will go.
“We need a good mix between buying and selling to take the next step.”
Alex Teixeira
Given the current struggles Liverpool are experiencing in bringing Shakhtar Donetsk’s Alex Teixeira to Anfield this January, perhaps it will be the summer in which the uncapped Brazilian ace eventually arrives.
Liverpool have endured frustration when chasing players from the Ukrainian top flight before in the case of Yevhen Konoplyanka and at the moment, Shakhtar are playing hardball having rejected a £28 million approach from the Reds.
An exciting goalscoring midfielder, Alex Teixeira has scored a Frank Lampard-esque 67 goals in 146 appearances for the Donbass Arena-based side and although it’s in an inferior division, you can’t sniff at a record like that!
Marc-Andre ter Stegen
If we’re completely honest, our resident Reds supporters groaned when it was announced that Simon Mignolet had signed a extension to his Liverpool contract recently given the Belgian international’s continued erratic form.
Nevertheless, we shouldn’t forget that Adam Bogdan was a Brendan Rodgers signing and we think that Klopp will be interested in farming out the Hungarian international in the summer when the current season is done.
That would leave space for another top quality goalkeeper to come in as an upgrade on Mignolet so it’s potentially not all doom and gloom.
One man the Reds have been reportedly chasing for a while is Barcelona’s German international Marc-Andre ter Stegen who is being lined up via a £20 million bid according to the Daily Star.
ter Stegen still can’t shake the tag of only appearing in the cup competitions at the Camp Nou where Claudio Bravo is preferred in La Liga and if Liverpool pursue this one aggressively enough, perhaps there could be some room for negotiation in the summer.
Mattia Perin
If Liverpool end up getting thwarted in their attempts to land Marc-Andre ter Stegen in the summer, perhaps they could then turn their attentions to this man Mattia Perin.
The Genoa stopper – pictured at Pescara above – has been highly rated in Serie A for some time now and is usually on the fringes of the Italian national side.
The latest from The Telegraph is that Liverpool are willing to go head-to-head with Manchester United in a battle to sign Perin this summer.
It’s at this point that our United punters pipe up and wonder why on earth the club would be trailing Perin with David De Gea and Sergio Romero on the books but our Liverpool fans jibe that De Gea still has his sights on Real Madrid!
We suppose it will all play out in the summer but our Reds fans want a new stopper regardless and they just wish that it could be Stoke City’s Jack Butland to be fair!
