Liverpool have a very valuable bargaining chip in our pursuit of Southampton centre-back Virgil van Dijk.
The Premier League club value the Dutch defender at £50m, but they’re also keen on Liverpool’s Mamadou Sakho as a potential replacement, suggests the Echo.
We’ve put a £20m price-tag on the frozen-out Frenchman’s head, and could use him as bait to tempt Southampton into selling us Van Dijk.
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Southampton’s defender is enjoying a brilliant season despite currently being out injured and is regarded as one of the country’s finest in his position.
He’s composed, physically outstanding and at 25, the perfect age.
Sakho is doing excellently on loan at Crystal Palace, but he’s completely surplus to Jurgen Klopp’s requirements and he will be inevitably sold in the summer.
If his exit allows us to bring in Van Dijk for an affordable £30m, we’ll be laughing.
Chelsea and Manchester City are also keen though, meaning we’ll face an uphill struggle to get a deal done even with the offer of Sakho on the table.