If nothing else, were continually making approaches for all the right players. With everyone eerily quiet on Liverpool’s £20mil bid for Southampton captain Adam Lallana, a new option has emerged to re-enforce the center of the park and it’s one that seems to fall more closely in-line with the Reds plan to develop young, promising players.
Over the past few weeks we’ve been linked with Bayern Leverkusen’s versatile midfield maestro Emre Can and today the deal appears to be coming to a head with reports suggesting that despite a complicated contract situation, Liverpool will complete the capture of the 20-year old within the next fortnight. Although a lot can change in that time frame, the Reds hierarchy aren’t leaving things to chance this summer after missing out on a number of high profile targets last year. We have the allure of the Champions League and we have the cash to spend; let’s get down to business.
Video by the ever so talented @MostarLFC
It’s hard to say whether the move for Can comes as an alternative to the higher priced Lallana, or if he was always a stand-alone target. Unlike the Southampton man, Can better fits the Liverpool model. We know he’s young and promising, but he’s also versatile without picking up the stigma of being a “utility man”. His ability to play all across the midfield is something that will have surely peaked Brendan Rodger’s interest and being able to slot in to the back-line if called upon comes as an added bonus.
Although Bayern Leverkusen Sporting Director Rudi Voeller seemed to suggest that Bayern Munich — who have a buy-back option on the youngster — will ultimately dictate proceedings, it all rings a bit hollow when he makes no mystery of how badly the North-Rhine club wants to hang onto him. With a suspected £10mil buy-out clause confirmed to be an actual, tangible thing by the German legend, it would appear that Liverpool just have to pull the trigger on a concrete bid in order to move proceedings forward. This, of course, is something we haven’t had a problem doing in the past; it hasn’t always worked out for us though.
Bids for the likes of Willian, Henrikh Mkhitaryan Diego Costa and Mohamed Salah and the subsequent rejections that came along with them are still a bit fresh in the memory to just shuttle off to one side. Nothing is quite as easy as it might seem on paper, but one thing is for certain: Liverpool is hardly the same beast they were last summer. With a return to the Champions League secured and the very real prospect of another title tilt on offer — not to mention the prospect of sharing the field with England’s most deadly strike force and a host of world class, household names — we’ve redeveloped the metaphorical muscles that need to be flexed in order to attract top drawer talented.
It’s quite obviously that even at this early stage that there’s a very real plan in place on Merseyside and bids for the likes of Lallana and now Can shows that we’ve got our priorities straight. Now that we’ve got those muscles, what better to do with them than show them off?
–Steven
