Although they had an offer of £7mil for Leicester City fullback Ben Chilwell rejected in early June, Liverpool are rumoured to still be interested in bringing the young defender to Anfield this summer as Reds boss Jurgen Klopp continues the massive overhaul of his squad. The Foxes, for their part, still aren’t playing ball and have actually put a new contract worth around £30,000k a week on the table in an effort to keep the promising 19-year old at the King Power Stadium.
“He is very close [to signing a new deal],” said Leicester City boss Claudio Ranieri when asked about Chilwell at a news conference on Friday, “and he will stay with us,” added the Italian, seemingly putting to bed speculation over the youngster’s future.
It goes without saying that Liverpool have had problems at the back over the past couple of seasons. Klopp has moved to plug up the holes in the form of new ‘keeper Loris Karius and defensive duo Joel Matip and Ragnar Klavan, but the left flank continues to be a major worry for the Anfield outfit. Alberto Moreno, for all his ability going forward, has been nothing but shaky on the back-foot since arriving from Europa League treble winners Sevilla two years ago and finding both cover and competition for the Spaniard should be a priority.
That, of course, begs the question of why Jon Flanagan — a versatile, no nonsense defender who can play on either side — is going to be farmed out on loan, but links to Chilwell paints the picture a touch clearer. Now that the Leicester youngster is seemingly out of reach, the Reds could shift their attentions elsewhere with Aston Villa fullback Jordan Amavi on their radar according to French media outlet ?Le Parisien. The 22-year old impressed during the early parts of the season, but spent the vast majority of it injured and watching from the sidelines as the Villains were relegated to the Championship. It could very well just be idle paper chatter, but after Klopp drafted saved former Newcastle United man Georginio Wijnaldum from spending a season in the second tier, it’s not so far fetched that he could do the same with someone as talented as Amavi.
