Rumour Mongering: Ajax Winger Dangled

Now that Liverpool’s transfer business has gone mostly quiet, with Jürgen Klopp getting most of his new recruits in early this summer, the speculation can ramp up a bit as the footballing world refuses to believe any manager is ever happy with the players they have. This morning, Italian rumour-churners at Il Tempo are linking Liverpool and AC Milan with a move for 21-year-old Ajax winger, Anwar El Ghazi.

El Ghazi had a good season last time out with the Dutch heavyweights, scoring 11 goals and managing to get two caps for the Netherlands. He’s fast. He’s strong. He’s a winger who’s fast. And, also strong. Did I say he’s fast, yet?

Liverpool are seemingly linked with speedy wingers ad nauseam. The problem is that Liverpool don’t buy wingers, don’t use wingers. Klopp has been relying on his fullbacks to provide the width on the pitch. So, unless Klopp decides to turn this guy into a left back, a player such as El Ghazi is superfluous in this squad.

Ajax, for their part, have opened the bidding at £15M. That’s not an eye-watering sum in the current market. In fact, I’d wager that it’s a suspiciously palatable number for a player that I suspect Ajax may just be hoping to cash in on and typed out a number they thought might get a few likes and retweets.

Jürgen Klopp has a complete set of attacking players in his collection now. Sadio Mané, Roberto Firmino, Philippe Coutinho, Adam Lallana, Georginio Wijnaldum, and presumably, Lazar Markovic and Danny Ings will all be working hard to be involved in the buzzing-about behind Daniel Sturridge or Divock Origi. It’s not impossible to see a player like El Ghazi brought into the team, but it seems more likely that Klopp would choose to strengthen other areas in the team that maybe don’t have such a beehive of competition.