Liverpool follow up Mac Allister bargain by battling Barcelona, Newcastle for £12.8m midfield wildcard | OneFootball

Liverpool hope to keep the transfer momentum built up with the capture of Alexis Mac Allister by taking Barcelona and Newcastle on for a Turkish teenager.

The Liverpool transfer geniuses have struck gold early in the summer transfer window by signing Mac Allister for a knockdown price of £35m, although reports on the price do vary between outlets.

The Reds nevertheless hope to capitalise on that energy by continuing Jurgen Klopp’s squad rebuild, which is currently focused on the midfield department.

Khephren Thuram of Nice has agreed terms on a prospective £55m transfer, while Wolves player Matheus Nunes and Manu Kone of Borussia Monchengladbach are among those who have been linked.

But reports in Turkey have thrown another name into the hat in the form of Fenerbahce teenager Arda Guler.

The Aksam Spor website report that Liverpool and Barcelona have ‘stepped in’ and ‘accelerated their attempts’ to sign the midfielder ahead of Newcastle, Leipzig, Dortmund and Real Sociedad.

Fenerbahce hope to keep Guler for one more year but if their valuation of £12.8m is met then the situation could be forced to change.

Guler, who only turned 18 in February, has played 34 games, scored six goals and provided six assists this past season for Fenerbahce, who finished second in the Super Lig, have reached the Turkish Cup final and were knocked out of the Europa League by eventual champions Sevilla.

There was also an international debut for Guler, who was a substitute in November’s victory for Turkey over Czechia, before coming on to face Croatia’s midfield triptych of Luka Modric, Mateo Kovacic and Marcelo Brozovic in a March defeat.

Speaking about his plans for the upcoming transfer window in May, Klopp allayed concerns that a lack of Champions League football to offer new signings could hinder Liverpool.

“When I talk to a player – if I’m allowed to talk to a player, which it barely the case, but in the moment when you are – you realise then it’s already clarified because we cannot tell anybody in the moment that we are definitely in the Champions League.

“If he’s talking to us, it’s probably already clear that he knows about that situation.

“If you join club, it’s that you want to reach something together with the club. We have to fight to be part of the Champions League, we have to fight for trophies and if you want to be part of that, you are more than welcome.

“There is one thing we cannot guarantee this year and it is Champions League football, all the rest is the same as it was before.

“We are still Liverpool and we are really attractive for a lot of players, we should not forget that. That’s why I’m not concerned about that fact.

“Everything is of course more difficult without Champions League, especially in long term, and we have to not do these things more often.