Liverpool have ‘fallen in love’ with €120m World Cup star amid ‘agreement’ claim; current player ‘to leave’ | OneFootball

Liverpool are reportedly among the clubs who have ‘fallen in love’ with Argentina midfielder Enzo Fernandez following his ‘outstanding’ World Cup form.

Fernandes has enjoyed a brilliant couple of months following his move to Benfica from River Plate in the summer.

His recent form earned him a place in Argentina’s 26-man World Cup squad and he ended up being one of the competition’s breakout stars. He was named the tournament’s best young player.

The centre-midfielder scored in the 2-0 win over Mexico in the group stages and he was relied upon by Argentina as they won the competition for the third time.

The 21-year-old’s recent showings have alerted clubs around Europe and Liverpool are among the clubs who admire him.

The Premier League side are in the market for new midfielders. Jude Bellingham is their priority target but it is expected that he will not be their only addition in that position if the Englishman opts to join Liverpool.

Fernandez will not come cheap in the coming months as his contract with Benfica includes a €120m release clause.

It was recently claimed that the Reds have already ‘agreed’ a deal to sign Fernandez. This has been refuted but Fabrizio Romano has confirmed that he is one midfielder ‘Liverpool are monitoring’.

But the transfer guru has noted that they face competition from Premier League rivals and teams in La Liga.

‘After such an outstanding World Cup, Premier League clubs, La Liga clubs… Many of them have fallen in love with Enzo Fernandez,’ Romano wrote for Caught Offside.

‘He has €120m release clause into his contract so it’s not going to be an easy one for any club, Benfica will try to keep him at least until the end of the current season.

‘Liverpool are monitoring many midfielders, he’s one of them.’

Liverpool are likely to let go a couple of players in the coming months as several of their current crop of stars are out of contract in 2023.

Naby Keita, Roberto Firmino, James Milner and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain are among the players due to be out of contract next year.

Keita has underwhelmed at Liverpool as his time at the club has been overshadowed by injuries.

Romano thinks he is likely ‘to leave in the summer’, but Liverpool are ‘in talks’ with Firmino over a new deal.

‘I’m aware there’s been a report of some potentially big departures from Liverpool this January, but here’s my understanding of the situation regarding Naby Keita and Roberto Firmino at the moment,’ Romano added.

‘For Keita there are chances to leave in the summer, at the moment there are no talks over a January move.

‘Firmino is in talks over new contract with Liverpool but it’s not advanced or close yet, so we will see in the next months.’