It’ll come as no surprise if Liverpool are linked with a number of players from Germany now that Jorg Schmadtke has been confirmed as the club’s new sporting director, and one of his previous recruits reportedly remains a player of interest at Anfield.
It was reported earlier this month that the Reds had been in touch with the representatives of Ron-Robert Zieler over a possible move for the Hannover 96 goalkeeper (Football Insider).
He was actually brought to the club by the 59-year-old way back in 2010, and it was Manchester United that he left to return to his homeland.
According to BILD (via Sport Witness), the 34-year-old remains ‘high’ on Liverpool’s wish list; and in tandem with Jurgen Klopp, Schmadtke could launch an offensive to try and bring the stopper to Merseyside.
Encouragingly for the Reds, Hannover could be quite willing to sell the experienced netminder, as he’s entering the final year of his contract and the 2.Bundesliga club are strapped for cash, while they already have a successor in place in Leo Weinkauf.
Even though Fabrizio Romano tweeted on Monday night that Adrian is set to stay at Liverpool, it seems that the Reds are still on the lookout for another backup goalkeeper to Alisson, particularly with Caoimhin Kelleher attracting Premier League interest.
Zieler never actually played for Man United’s first team but has accrued more than 400 senior appearances in his career, while also being part of Germany’s 2014 World Cup-winning squad (Transfermarkt).
Despite his nationality, he’d also qualify as a homegrown player at Anfield because of the six years he spent in Manchester between the ages of 15 and 21 (Football Insider), a significant plus point which could free up a ‘foreign’ squad place elsewhere.
His career truly took off after Schmadtke oversaw his move to Hannover 13 years ago, so the goalkeeper could be quite willing to team up with the new Liverpool sporting director once more.
Die Roten’s unenviable financial state could also be something for the Merseyside club to seize upon, particularly with Zieler having just 13 months left on his contract.
Schmadtke is only in the job since this morning, but already the links to his Bundesliga alumni are gathering steam. We can probably expect plenty more of that narrative over the next few weeks.