£71m release clause: Liverpool watching friend of Chiesa whose brother was also linked with Reds | OneFootball

According to reports from Italy, Liverpool are continuing to keep close tabs on a player who’s been admired at Anfield ever before Arne Slot took over from Jurgen Klopp in the dugout.

Although the Dutchman can boast probably the best collection of forwards in the Premier League right now, and one of the best anywhere in the world, the Reds have been linked with a few prolific strikers of late, most notably Omar Marmoush and Viktor Gyokeres.

It appears that those aren’t the only two attackers on the radar on Merseyside, with one well-known name also reportedly being of interest to the LFC hierarchy.

Liverpool watching Marcus Thuram

On Tuesday morning, Gazzetta dello Sport claimed that Liverpool are among numerous clubs watching Inter Milan striker Marcus Thuram, a player in whom Klopp had been interested during his time as Reds manager and who continues to be admired at Anfield.

The 27-year-old has a sizeable release clause of €85m (£71m) at the San Siro, but despite being a childhood friend of Federico Chiesa, whose dad Enrico was once a Parma teammate of the Frenchman’s father Lilian, he has no intention of leaving the Nerazzurri for the time being.

Coincidentally, the Merseyside giants were heavily linked with his brother Khephren during the summer of 2023 when he was at Nice (he’s since moved to Juventus).

(Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)

Do Liverpool really need Thuram?

While Thuram hasn’t been as astonishingly prolific this season as the aforementioned Marmoush (14 goals in 16 games) or Gyokeres (23 in 18), he’s still enjoyed a productive campaign so far with Inter, scoring eight goals in 15 matches (Transfermarkt).

The France international is an out-and-out centre-forward, a position from which Darwin Nunez has netted just three times this term and Diogo Jota has unfortunately been dogged with injury once again in recent weeks, so we can understand why Liverpool have reportedly taken an interest in him.

That said, he fits the category of ‘nice to have’ rather than ‘must-have’ for the Reds, with their two main options at the apex of attack having both proven that they can lead the line effectively, while Luis Diaz can also excel in the number 9 role if Slot chooses to deploy him there.

At this moment in time we don’t envisage Anfield chiefs pushing hard to sign Thuram, although he’s worth keeping on the list incase circumstances change in L4 and we find ourselves in need of bolstering our attacking options.