Liverpool may not have given up entirely on the idea of signing a new holding midfielder in the January window.
Despite landing Wataru Endo in the summer, the Merseysiders could further bolster their midfield ranks with the signing of Joao Palhinha.
Christian Falk reports that Bayern ‘heard’ of their European rivals’ concrete interest in the Fulham star, which could complicate matters.
“Bayern heard that Liverpool are concretely interested in Joao Palhinha so things are getting complicated already ahead of the January transfer window,” the head of football at the BILD Group wrote in his exclusive Fact Files column with CaughtOffside.
“They don’t have the money at the moment to commit to many big transfers and signing a centre-back is the priority.
“So, perhaps they might move away from the idea of signing him in the winter if Liverpool are also involved in the poker.
“They do have one alternative in mind in Martin Zubimendi of Real Sociedad. He could be the next choice if Palhinha is off the market.”
Steve Kay over at Football Transfers pointed to a fee of £50m being enough to potentially prise the Portuguese midfielder away from Craven Cottage.
Liverpool need a more progressive No.6
With the greatest of respect to Palhinha – who is without question a phenomenal midfielder – he’s simply not what’s needed at Anfield.
A move for the ex-Sporting CP star would represent a step back in time when a destroyer, in the form of Fabinho, ruled the roost.
Not to suggest that he couldn’t ‘do a job’ under Jurgen Klopp, but the faith shown in Alexis Mac Allister indicates that we’re expecting a bit more from our No.6 in this rebooted Liverpool side.
Not to mention, we’ve reconfigured the setup to ensure defensive responsibilities are meted out a bit more equally.
#Ep97 of The Empire of the Kop Podcast: EOTK Insider with Neil Jones🎙️