Insider: Liverpool will ‘want to move quickly’ to snap up ‘electric’ speed demon with ‘no fear’ | OneFootball

Liverpool are expected to ‘move quickly’ to try and win the transfer race for a young winger with ‘massive pace’.

The Reds have frequently turned to the Bundesliga for signings in recent years (Ryan Gravenberch, Dominik Szoboszlai, Ibrahima Konate and Wataru Endo, to name a few) and they’ve again been linked with a few players from the German top flight for this summer.

Hugo Ekitike, Xavi Simons and Jeremie Frimpong are among the names doing the rounds in the LFC rumour mill, and they’re also believed to have scouted an English expat currently plying his trade on the continent.

Liverpool will ‘want to move quickly’ for Jamie Gittens

Speaking to Football Insider, ex-Manchester United chief scout Mick Brown – who remains well-connected within the sport – named Jamie Gittens as a ‘key target’ for Liverpool ahead of the summer transfer window and believes that they won’t want to waste any time in trying to snap him up.

He said of the Borussia Dortmund winger: “There are a lot of clubs looking at him, including Liverpool. They’ve had scouts keeping a close eye on him and they’ve seen certain things about his game that they like and want to add to their squad.

“He’s a very interesting one because I never heard his name until I saw him playing for England’s Under-21s. He’s got massive pace, which is something almost every club wants to have in their side. That makes him a key target for Liverpool as well because they like to have these electric wingers.

“They will be Premier League champions and they know the pressure that comes with that, so they want to move quickly to add players to their squad. Gittens is one of those and if they decide he’s the top target, they’ll want to beat their rivals to him.

“There are question marks about why he was allowed to leave Man City to go to Dortmund in the first place, a bit like with Jadon Sancho, but that’s something Liverpool will know the answer to. They’ll know him inside and out, his strengths and weaknesses, through their scouting network.”

(Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)

Gittens is talented but there’s room for improvement

Brown spoke of Gittens’ searing pace, and a top speed of 22.34mph this season certainly attests to that being one of the 20-year-old’s standout qualities. He also boasts ‘exquisite dribbling and trickery’, while teammate Karim Adeyemi has said that he plays with ‘no fear’ (bundesliga.com).

A return of 12 goals and five assists from 44 appearances this term is also respectable, although his recent strike against Freiburg ended a worryingly barren run of almost three months without a single goal contribution (Transfermarkt).

With doubts persisting about Luis Diaz’s future at Liverpool, a few left wingers have cropped up as possible targets, including Brighton’s Kaoru Mitoma, but FSG would need to carefully consider whether any of the names on their radar would be an upgrade on the Colombian.

Gittens is at an age where we should see the best of him in years to come, hopefully becoming more consistent in front of goal to go along with his blistering pace, and he’s already quite experienced at a high level with more than 100 senior appearances for Dortmund.

It could cost more than £80m to lure him from the Bundesliga outfit, and whether the Anfield hierarchy would spend that much on him in a summer which could see a few other parts of the squad being addressed is up for debate.

What we can say with confidence is that, if Liverpool make a discernible attempt to try and sign him, they’ll be fully convinced that he’d be the right fit for Arne Slot’s side.