Liverpool could force Chelsea to drop price for £75m star with interest shown
Liverpool are showing an interest in a £75million-rated Chelsea star, and the Blues could drop their asking price as a result of the pursuit, reports insider Simon Phillips.
The Reds have a bit of a defensive dilemma at the moment. Through pre-season, Virgil van Dijk was their only fit senior centre-back – and he was not on the tour.
Elsewhere in defence, both right-backs, Jeremie Frimpong and Conor Bradley are injured.
When Liverpool landed Barcelona centre-back Ronald Araujo on loan, insider Fabrizio Romano suggested a right-back could also join this summer.
He said: “Then I can’t say that Liverpool will not sign a right-back in the final weeks of the transfer window, but the focus was centre-back.”
And a Premier League star has come onto their radar, with Chelsea insider Phillips stating Blues man Malo Gusto is being eyed by the Anfield outfit.
The London club are said to value Gusto at £75million, but they could be persuaded to lower that if Liverpool’s interest develops into formal contact.
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Gusto wants Man City move
There could be a problem in that pursuit, though, in that Manchester City have been linked with the right-back.
Phillips suggests they remain interested in Gusto, who played under Enzo Maresca when he was in charge at Chelsea.
TEAMtalk has previously revealed that the right-back has welcomed the opportunity to reunite with his former boss in Manchester.
Indeed, Gusto feels Maresca played a large role in his development at Chelsea, so when City interest became evident, he was ready to jump at it.
That is not to say that he wouldn’t accept a move to Liverpool if a club-to-club agreement was put in place.
However, if City were first to agree to sign Gusto from Anfield, he’d surely be more likely to jump at that chance.
Also interested in the full-back are the likes of Tottenham, Bayern Munich and Juventus, but interest from those clubs has not amounted to anything yet.
