Football Digest: Liverpool pick up huge win at Newcastle
Liverpool could look to ruin Manchester City’s hopes in the transfer market by hijacking their deal for Wolves midfielder Matheus Nunes. The Citizens saw a £47million bid rejected last week and have since submitted an improved £52m proposal.
Wolves are said to want £60m for the Portugal international and the Reds may look to swoop in while Man City try to haggle down the Wanderers’ asking price, in a similar fashion to how they tried to grab Moises Caicedo from under Chelsea’s noses before he opted for Stamford Bridge along with Romeo Lavia.
Jurgen Klopp is a keen admirer of the player and has always been very complimentary of his abilities and how “difficult” he is to play against. Nunes caused Liverpool all types of problems during their home and away legs in the FA Cup third round last season.
In the replay at Molineux, he started on the bench but was introduced as a half-time substitute. Although Harvey Elliot’s 13th-minute screamer was enough to get the Reds through to the fourth round, Klopp admitted his team’s task had become much trickier after Nunes was brought on.
“We dropped a bit deeper, I didn’t like that too much, Wolves came up a little bit,” said Klopp about the second half. “In the moment when you let [Ruben] Neves in the game and it changes everything pretty much and then when Nunes is on the pitch as well then it’s like twice as difficult and we did really well.”
Liverpool had been linked to Nunes in January but the transfer never materialised. At the time, Klopp was quizzed about whether he needed to strengthen his midfield but the German insisted he was satisfied with the players he had at his disposal.
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“Where is the need for a midfielder?” he said. “I wait for the day when somebody comes to me and tells me why, exactly. Now you tell me what kind of player are we missing? One who is offensive, 1.95m and arrives into the box to head balls in? OK, apart from that!”
However, he finds himself in a very different position this season following the departures of Jordan Henderson, James Milner and Fabinho. The Reds lack defensively-minded players in the centre of the park and desperately need to bring in reinforcements that can play in a deeper role.
The recent capture of Wataru Endo from Stuttgart is a good addition but most feel Liverpool need one more player to ensure they have appropriate depth.
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