“Going To Take A Serious Look…” – Paul Gorst On Liverpool Interest In ‘Top-Tier’ Attacker | OneFootball

Liverpool fans around the world will get their first chance to see Arne Slot’s Reds in a stadium fixture as they take on Real Betis in Pittsburgh tonight.

Slot appeared relaxed and good-humoured in his pre-match press conference but would not be drawn on several of the summer’s key talking points, including transfer incomings and contract renewals for Trent Alexander-Arnold, Virgil van Dijk and Mo Salah.

Salah was linked with a shock move to Saudi Arabia last summer, with the LFC hierarchy turning down two bids from Al-Ittihad. With less than 12 months remaining on his current deal, has sporting director Richard Hughes found a potential successor in the form of Johan Bakayoko?

The PSV winger has been linked with a move to Merseyside for several months. Belgian journalist Sacha Tavolieri added fuel to the fire earlier this week by tweeting that a transfer was ‘likely’ in August.

On the latest episode of our Journo Insight Show, we asked the Liverpool Echo’s LFC correspondent Paul Gorst for his thoughts on the Bakayoko links.

“LIVERPOOL WILL HAVE A LIST” – Paul Gorst On Reds’ Search For A Mohamed Salah Understudy

Paul said:

“I was keeping an eye on him in the Euros, actually, because obviously those links have been around for the past few months.

“Left-footed right winger – got all the traits you would expect of that profile of player. Loads to admire really.

“I think Vincent Kompany tried to sign him for Burnley last summer. He remains interested… it’s a lot easier to get a player to Bayern Munich than it is to Burnley, with respect to them.

“Liverpool will be taking a little bit of a longer view of what happens in the post-Mo Salah world. I don’t know if there are huge concerns that he’s going to drop off a cliff… but just to prolong his career he doesn’t have to play 90 minutes every week, does he?

“If Liverpool are going to look to rest him and rotate him at certain points then they will need an adequate backup.

“Liverpool are going to take a serious look at a Mo Salah deputy/future replacement at some stage. That’s why you can see links to Kubo and that’s why links to Bakayoko have never really gone away.”

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Redmen Reacts

With no real developments on transfer incomings, there has been growing unrest amongst some Liverpool fans that the club may be leaving things too late in the transfer window. Whilst concrete interest in Johan Bakayoko – hailed as ‘top tier’ by international teammate Romelu Lukaku – has not been confirmed by the FSG hierarchy, it has not been rebuffed despite stories linking the Belgian winger with a move appearing for several months. Club sources were quick to quash rumours in the past for players such as Benjamin Pavard and Evan Ndicka, which perhaps shows that there could be genuine interest in this case. Bakayoko’s goal record in 2023/24 is similar to those of Mo Salah and Sadio Mané before they signed for the club, so there is plenty of potential for improvement should he sign. Sporting director Richard Hughes said he expected transfer activity across the Premier League to ramp up in August, which is also the time Belgian journalist Sacha Tavolieri predicted a deal for Bakayoko could be completed. Not to be ruled out.

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