Jurgen Klopp reportedly hasn’t given up hope of landing prior target Aurelien Tchouameni after losing out on the player to Real Madrid last summer.
This update comes courtesy of El Nacional, with the Spanish outlet claiming that the Reds are now prepared to offer Los Blancos £52.1m plus £17.3m in add-ons – £17.5m less (assuming add-ons are paid) than the £86.9m Carlo Ancelotti’s men forked out in 2022 – in a second attempt.
More to the point, it has been alleged that Madrid chief Florentino Perez would be open to the prospect of selling up to help cover a mega move for Borussia Dortmund’s Jude Bellingham.
Miss out on Bellingham… but Liverpool could sign Aurelien Tchouameni instead
Out of Madrid’s five most ‘elite’ midfielders – in a list including Eduardo Camavinga, Toni Kroos, Luka Modric, Federico Valverde and Aurelien Tchouameni – the Frenchman comes dead last for minutes this season (2,615) behind his Croatian teammate (2,897).
It’s worth pointing out that the former Monaco man has enjoyed a reasonable amount of game-time under Carlo Ancelotti in his debut season in Spanish football and has started six of the club’s last eight league games.
That being said, the uncertainty around the player coupled with the potential arrival of another positionally versatile, generational midfielder in Jude Bellingham could complicate matters significantly.
Perez won’t necessarily feel under pressure to part ways with Tchouameni this summer, though, if any doubts persist over the 23-year-old’s future at the Santiago Bernabeu, a solution that sees the holding midfielder jet over to Merseyside could be of benefit to both parties.
On our end, it’s certainly one that would soften the blow of missing out on the highly-coveted England international.