Exclusive: ‘I am sure Liverpool are keeping an eye’ – Fabrizio Romano weighs in on reports linking Reds with two midfield stars with expiring contracts

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Fabrizio Romano shared an update on Liverpool’s reported interest in Frank Kessie and Denis Zakaria, with the pair still yet to extend their contracts beyond the summer of 2022 at their respective clubs.

The verdict was unclear on the latter, with the reporter unable to reveal if the Reds had thrown their hat into the ring, though suggesting that the club were likely to be ‘keeping tabs’.

“He is a player that has interest from many, many clubs. It’s an absolutely open situation,” the Sky Sports journalist told Empire of the Kop.

“We have to see if these clubs want to jump in this deal in January – trying to pay the compensation to Borussia Monchengladbach and then trying to sign the player immediately – or if they’re going to wait till June to sign him as a free agent, because, for example, Juventus are interested.

“But also from other countries, many clubs are moving from Germany and Spain, so it’s not an easy deal but many club are keeping tabs on this boy.”

“He recently changed his agent and this is why I would keep an eye on Zakaria.

“He’s a name that I can’t tell you is negotiating with Liverpool but I am sure that Liverpool are keeping an eye on these kinds of opportunities.”

Likewise, it seems the chances of the Reds acquiring the other name on the list would be somewhat unlikely in light of the potential financial demands.

“For Frank Kessie, I think it’s going to be a bit more complicated because of what he’s asking for the salary.

“AC Milan offered him €6.5m net per season as a salary and he said no – he wants around €8-9m net per season.

“I guess if he’s going to leave AC Milan as a free agent, he wants more than €8m net per season. It’s a lot of money.

“I think Liverpool want to go in a different way for salaries too and I think they’re taking a good decision on this.

“Sometimes with salary, football is getting crazy and clubs are having problems – see what happened with Barcelona and many other clubs.”

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As far as midfielders are concerned, Jurgen Klopp has already suggested that we have more than enough in our squad to contend with for the season.

In terms of numbers, it’s hard to disagree with the German, though there has to be some consideration for the fact that we have three players in their 30s, not to mention two injury prone options in Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

To balance that point, there are a handful of names coming up who one might imagine would be considered the future of the midfield in Curtis Jones, Harvey Elliott and, now, Tyler Morton following his impressive displays in Europe.

It will be interesting to see how much faith Klopp continues to show in our up and coming midfield options over the remainder of the season and beyond.

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