Rumour Mongering: Reds Track Sassuolo Striker

Liverpool can hardly find time for the strikers they do have, with Roberto Firmino, Daniel Sturridge, Divock Origi, and Danny Ings all competing for minutes at Anfield. With Firmino seeing regular minutes up top this season, the striker depth chart is so deep that Sturridge has at times had to play wide to get on the pitch.

With that in mind, striker doesn’t seem like it would be a priority for the club in the transfer market. Yet it’s a striker the rumour mongers in Italy are today linking with a Liverpool move, with Tutto Mercato Web claiming Sassuolo forward Gregoire Defrel is a serious target and that Jürgen Klopp has two scouts tracking him.

The French striker joined Sassuolo in 2015 from Cesena in a €7M deal and after an unimpressive debut season—he scored seven goals and six assists in 35 games—Defrel has hit the ground running in year two. So far this season, he has five goals and three assists in just seven appearances, good for a goal or assist every 69 minutes.

It’s a world class return, and unsurprisingly that has the press in Italy linking him with bigger and brighter things than Sassuolo. Of course, it’s also a very small sample size, and if his production drops, it’s likely that the rumours will quickly go away, too. Because right now, that’s all this is: a rumour for Serie A’s in-form striker.

Right now, he’s being linked with Liverpool. In a week, it could be Chelsea or Manchester United. Then the big Italian clubs will be added to the mix. If he can continue his production he might end up an interesting potential target—albeit an expensive one at a position of depth—but there’s really no reason to think the rumour is true.