Liverpool’s hopes of keeping Cheick Doucoue’s price-tag down ahead of an anticipated move for the Malian may very well depend on how timely their efforts are.
Chelsea have already been the first club to move in for their ideal pick of Michael Olise (Fabrizio Romano), whilst Football.London (via the Daily Mail) reports that Tottenham are keeping tabs on Eberechi Eze.
Similar to concerns the Reds had about Cody Gakpo’s asking price back in January (Neil Jones), any bid for the Eagles’ 23-year-old holding midfielder will surely be impacted by the imminent departure of the former teammate. Add on a further exit from the latter and the Merseysiders’ recruitment team may be forced to stump up a higher fee.
READ MORE: Liverpool advancing & could sign new No.6 for £20m less than expected – Miguel Delaney
Unfortunately, the time has been and gone for us to snap up Doucoure at an especially cut-price rate, though Miguel Delaney has noted that it could still be possible to keep the price down around (or under) the £60m mark.
Already one game into the season – after having broadcast to the footballing world just how big our transfer kitty is – that figure wouldn’t necessarily be disastrous, even if Palace’s Player of the Year wasn’t our first-choice option to plug the No.6 gap.
A defensively dominant resource for the Eagles last term, with FBref ranking the ex-Lens man in the 77th, 94th and 78th percentiles for tackles, interceptions and blocks (amongst his midfield peers), however, it’s clear that the transfer would at least tick one major box for Liverpool going into the remainder of the campaign.