According to reports from Spain, Jurgen Klopp has given the go-ahead for Liverpool to move for a left-footed defensive transfer target.
Fichajes claimed that the Reds manager ‘has given the green light’ to a January raid on Bayer Leverkusen for Piero Hincapie, for whom the Merseysiders are believed to already be in ‘advanced talks’.
A prospective fee of around €55m (£47.5m) has been mentioned, which tallies with similar reports from his native Ecuador towards the end of last week.
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Hincapie has had a delayed start to this season, only getting his first appearance of the campaign against Bayern Munich at the weekend due to a three-game suspension he incurred for a red card on the final day of 2022/23 (Transfermarkt).
However, the 21-year-old has proven to be a menace for many Bundesliga opponents over the past year, with his average of 2.32 tackles per game ranking him among the top 9% of defenders in Europe’s five main leagues for that particular metric (FBref).
Liverpool fans will be rather intrigued by the Ecuadorian’s performance in Leverkusen’s 2-0 win over RB Leipzig in April.
On that day, he won five duels and made five clearances, three interceptions and one block, frustrating a certain Dominik Szoboszlai to the point where the Hungarian was sent off in the closing minutes of his team’s defeat (Sofascore).
As Steve Kay mentioned in conversation with Empire of the Kop recently, a left-footed centre-back is something that Jurgen Klopp would crave at Anfield, with all of his current options in that area primarily favouring their right (Transfermarkt).
It’s therefore no surprise that the manager has given the thumbs-up for Jorg Schmadtke and the recruitment team to try and land Hincapie, who Szoboszlai would surely much rather enjoy having as a teammate than an opponent.