Ajax have received an offer for winger David Neres, who has been the subject of interest from Liverpool, but it is not the Reds who have tabled a bid.
French outlet Le 10 Sport reported that Borussia Dortmund have submitted an offer of €40million (£35.94m) for the 22-year-old.
Le 10 Sport claimed that Liverpool are monitoring the Brazil international but have yet to put a transfer offer on the table.
UOL Esporte reported that the Reds’ local rivals Everton had also made enquiries about Neres.
Neres has established himself as a regular presence in the Ajax line-up over the last two seasons, playing 87 games for the first-team in that time.
He has scored 26 goals across those two campaigns, averaging 0.3 per game, and has provided 29 assists, an average of 0.33 per game.
A scout report on Statsbomb noted how, when playing in his favoured right-sided attacking position, he often attempts to cut inside and find one of his team’s danger men. Neres averaged 1.1 key passes per game last season and recorded a passing success rate of 83.1%.
The same scout report also alluded to his dribbling ability and he averaged 1.8 dribbles per game for Ajax last season. Even that was way down on the year before, when his match average was 3.6 dribbles.
Crossing is one of the weaker aspects of his game, though, with a match average of just 0.2. However, the ability of Liverpool’s full-backs Trent Alexander-Arnold (two per game) and Andrew Robertson (0.6 per game) in this regard would compensate for Neres’ limitations.
If the Brazil winger ends up at Anfield, a certain Mohamed Salah is blocking his path to the first XI. The Egyptian has scored 71 goals and supplied 29 assists in 104 games for the Reds, averaging 0.68 goals and 0.28 assists per game.
Also, Salah has had a greater scoring return despite playing in a tougher league than Neres – UEFA’s association club coefficient ranks the Premier League second, with Eredivisie 11th.
Salah averaged more dribbles (2.1) and key passes (1.8) per game than Neres last season, even if his passing accuracy of 75.9% was notably worse than the Ajax man.
Neres’ statistics show that he has been an effective presence for Ajax over the last couple of seasons, but right now it doesn’t seem like he is ready to displace Salah from Liverpool’s first XI.
The Egypt attacker will likely need a rest at times this season after playing in the Africa Cup of Nations following 52 appearances for the Reds last term, but with Jurgen Klopp hinting that Liverpool are unlikely to do any major transfer business this summer (as reported by Sky Sports News), a move for Neres seems unlikely.
Liverpool fans, would you like to see the club making an offer to sign Neres or are you happy with the Reds’ current attacking options? Share your views in the comments section below!
