With Liverpool’s £25mil bid for Southampton captain Adam Lallana stalled at the offer stage, Reds boss Brendan Rodgers has been eyeing alternatives and reports have him renewing his interest in highly rated Benfica winger Lazar Markovic.
With deals for former Saint’s striker Rickie Lambert and Bayer Leverkusen midfielder Emre Can already wrapped up, it looks like the Northern Irishman’s patience is growing thin with the South Coast side. With an initial bid of £20mil rejected, an additional £5mil was added in a take it or leave it offer, but with no movement as of yet, the Anfield outfit appear to be sticking to their guns, and as predicted, exploring other options as Rodgers looks to get the majority of his business wrapped up before the World Cup kicks off.
With a deal for promising Sevilla fullback Alberto Moreno on the verge of being completed, the Reds boss isn’t about to slow down and if Southampton aren’t ready to deal, Lallana could very well miss out on a deal that he’s known to want. An initial asking price of £30mil initially threw Liverpool off Markovic’s scent, but with Portuguese club apparently softening their stance on the 20-year old winger, a move could very well be in the works.
If Liverpool want to snatch up Markovic, they may have to move quickly while Chelsea are pre-occupied with Atletico Madrid goal-machine Diego Costa. The London club are known to have a keen interest in the Serbian winger having attempted to sign him during his time at Partizan Belgrade only to have the deal fall apart. With talk of a move for Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk Yevhen Konoplyanka off the boil and a bid for Bayern Munich wonder-kid Xherdan Shaqiri looking like nothing more than paper-talk, Markovic could very well end up being a very real target in the coming days.
Or, he could just be the right lever to finally pry Lallana away from Southampton…
