Liverpool transfer target Josko Gvardiol has played down speculation regarding a potential move away from his current club.
The RB Leipzig defender is of strong interest to the Reds, although the likes of Manchester United, Manchester City and Real Madrid are also believed to be keen on him (as per Football Insider).
The discourse surrounding the 21-year-old’s future looks set to continue up to and throughout the summer transfer window, although he’s doing his best to bat it off.
Fabrizio Romano shared an update on Gvardiol’s situation, tweeting these comments from the defender to Croatian media outlet Net.hr: “I congratulated Pep Guardiola – he threw a few words at me. But I will keep them to myself.
“My future? RB Leipzig is not interested in selling me this summer, there is no point in talking about anything else.”
It’d be wise not to write off Liverpool’s hopes of signing the Croatia centre-back purely on the basis of those remarks.
This looks like a classic case of an in-demand player trying to publicly dampen intense transfer speculation, although it’s hard to imagine that the 21-year-old isn’t some bit flattered by the level of interest in him.
Gvardiol’s reference to the chat he had with Guardiola in the wake of RB Leipzig’s Champions League exit at the hands of Manchester City could be interpreted in some quarters as the Spaniard trying to entice the youngster to the Etihad Stadium.
Nonetheless, Liverpool shouldn’t be discouraged from pushing the boat out to try and sign one of the best ball-playing defenders around. As per FBref, he ranks among the top 1% of centre-backs in Europe’s five main leagues for passes per game (85.4) over the previous 12 months.
Jurgen Klopp seemingly has that as one of his priority positions in the summer transfer window (as per Football Insider), so the Reds must be persistent in attempting to bring him in.
You can see Romano’s tweet below (via @FabrizioRomano on Twitter):
Gvardiol: “I congratulated Pep Guardiola — he threw a few words at me. But I will keep them to myself”, tells Net HR 🔵🇭🇷 #MCFC
“My future? RB Leipzig is not interested in selling me this summer, there is no point in talking about anything else”. pic.twitter.com/CTEH9BoCYX
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) March 27, 2023