“Taking A Look…” – Paul Gorst On ‘Breakout’ Reported Liverpool Target | OneFootball

Liverpool head into this weekend’s fixture against Southampton knowing a win is vital to keep the pressure on the chasing pack.

Manchester City are their nearest rivals in second place but will be buoyed by the news that Pep Guardiola has signed a contract extension that will see him manage the club for over a decade.

A large part of LFC’s on-pitch success this season has been down to the good form of their forward players. Mohamed Salah seems reinvigorated after a summer break, with Luis Díaz and Cody Gakpo both contributing vital goals and assists.

Summer signing Federico Chiesa has struggled for fitness and has been linked with a possible loan move back to his home country. Over in Italy, Gazzetta dello Sport suggested Chiesa could soon be joined at Liverpool by childhood friend Marcus Thuram in a deal worth around £70 million. Other reports have linked the Reds with a big-money swoop for man-of-the-moment, Eintracht Frankfurt’s Omar Marmouche.

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

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Paul said:

[On Thuram]

“We’ve already mentioned they’ve got those six players in those front positions. A lot of moving parts would have to develop – wouldn’t they – with Darwin Núñez, maybe less so with Diogo Jota.

“I couldn’t see Liverpool paying £70 million for someone who’s already 27. It’s maybe one where Liverpool’s name has just been thrown into the mixer, as happens quite a lot.

“If they were to sign him next summer and he’s just about to turn 28, I think he’d be the oldest player they’ve signed outside of Endo since Thiago.

“It just feels like there are a lot of factors there that are very un-Liverpool-like.”

[On Marmoush]

“Someone whose name has been filtering around reports out of Germany in recent weeks. I think he moved to Frankfurt on a free transfer, and like you said, it’s a bit of a breakout season for him.

“I think he’ll probably need a little bit more of a bigger sample size before Liverpool do take the plunge.

“They are taking a look, someone who’s gettable, if you like. Playing for a club that Liverpool will be able to do some business with and do a deal with.

“Liverpool are quite settled with the six who they’ve got, there’s going to need to be some outgoings before players come in.”

REDMEN REACTS

Federico Chiesa’s lack of game time has done nothing to dispel the idea that his fitness cannot be relied upon. The cut-price fee Liverpool paid Juventus this summer seemed a bargain at the time – and may still prove to be – but the club are currently without a third of their attacking options given the injury to Diogo Jota. It would not be out of the question for FSG to target an additional attacker, but the likelihood is that they would join in the summer when the Mo Salah contract saga is finally at an end. The mooted fee for Thuram seems steep for a man who has never scored more than 13 league goals in a season. Marmoush could be an interesting one, but he has done the majority of his best work for Frankfurt in a central role, which would likely mean one of Jota or Darwin moving on. Unless the club surprise us with a snap winter purchase – as they did with Luis Díaz and Cody Gakpo – there will likely be no changes made to their attacking options until summer.