Thomas Tuchel may have given Liverpool fans some hope of their club landing players from Bayern Munich this summer.
Leon Goretzka has been linked with the Reds this week, while Kicker reported (via FourFourTwo) that another midfielder in Joshua Kimmich could possibly be sold in order to free up funds for the marquee signing of Harry Kane.
It’s understood that Jurgen Klopp has been a long-time admirer of the 28-year-old, and he could sense an opportunity to try and pounce for him in the current transfer window amid LFC’s quest to replace Saudi Arabia-bound Fabinho and Jordan Henderson.
As per 90min, Tuchel has insisted that Bayern’s number six is central to his plans, although the manager’s comments suggested that he isn’t completely ruling out the possibility of selling.
The 49-year-old said: “It would be surprising. But a transfer window is a transfer window, I said in general that anything is possible. There’s absolutely no point in name-dropping and throwing in a different name every day.”
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If the door truly opens up for Liverpool to sign either Goretzka or Kimmich this summer, they absolutely must to everything to try and pounce.
The former plays primarily as a central midfielder but can also be used as a number 6 or 10, while he ranks among the top 10% of positional peers in Europe’s five main leagues for attributes such as blocks, assists, shots taken and aerial duels won, marking him out as a very well-rounded player (FBref).
Meanwhile, the latter stands out as one of the best distributors of a ball in the business, ranking in the top 1% of midfielders in the continent for passes attempted (86.47) and progressive passes (9.87) per game (FBref).
The duo are paid more than £600,000 per week between them, which could put pressure on Liverpool’s wage bill, although the imminent departures of Fabinho and Henderson would free up £320,000 in wages each week (FBref).
Even if Klopp only manages to add one of Goretzka or Kimmich, it’d give the Reds’ midfield a huge added touch of class and be the perfect response to losing two stalwarts of the 56-year-old’s era at Anfield.