Exclusive: ‘Liverpool are watching him’ – Christian Falk makes midfield transfer claim over potential Jude Bellingham alternative
Liverpool continue to keep a close eye on Kouadio ‘Manu’ Koné, as has been reported by Christian Falk.
The 21-year-old, who notably fits well into the side’s preferred age range of 20-24, is expected to depart in the next summer window.
“It’s also a question of money but Gladbach knows that they will let Kouadio Koné go in the summer unless there’s an opportunity to keep hold of him,” the BILD journalist exclusively told CaughtOffside.
“They don’t want to sell any of their players. They’re having discussions with the goalkeeper [Yann Sommer] who could join Bayern Munich. Koné has time.
“Liverpool are watching him, Newcastle were very interested in him, PSG also interested.
“Bayern says no, that’s my concrete information, they don’t want to buy him. Not this summer, perhaps in future but then he’s gone. Bayern have enough midfield players so they’re not in the race.
“I think Kone will leave in the summer but none of the links are concrete enough where you can say that he’s going to the Premier League or this club or this club. It’s a big market but Gladbach will try to keep him until the summer but then they’ll lose him.
The Gladbach midfielder has been touted as a potential alternative to the Merseysiders’ top priority target this summer, Jude Bellingham, judging by metrics analysed by Liverpool.com (via Empire of the Kop).
The struggle for Liverpool, of course, will be identifying targets they can afford to splash out on alongside Bellingham – assuming that they can stump up the required fee (understood to be in the region of £130m) to land his signature.
This task will be made even more challenging should Jürgen Klopp’s men fail to qualify for the Champions League spots, an eventuality that has to be considered a distinct likelihood in light of their current form.
Assuming that Falk’s estimation of €40m is close to the mark, it could still allow the Reds to fulfil their midfield transfer quota even without top European football.
“There are no offers at the moment, so there are no concrete prices, but we talked about Bellingham, Fernández… I think he’s not in this range but he is a plan B for many clubs,” the reporter added. “Dortmund perhaps will need a player in his position. So, €40m perhaps? But no offers, so no market.”
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