Liverpool Prepare To End Lingering Transfer Rumors

Not for the first time, Liverpool Football Club have been linked with Roma’s Leandro Paredes. The young Argentine defensive midfielder, who has six Serie A starts for the giallorossi this season, appeared on the rumormongers’ radar screens in the summer of 2016, when it was not entirely clear how Lucas Leiva and Emre Can would fit into manager Jürgen Klopp’s plans for the season.

With Lucas continuing what appears to be an extended swan song in Liverpool’s defensive midfield and central defence, and with Can’s development showing uneven and modest progress this season, Paredes’ name has once again surfaced as a possible Liverpool target. This past weekend, a number of outlets suggested that the club were preparing to make a substantially higher bid than what was floated last year - up to £26.5m if rumors are to be believed - in an effort to secure Paredes’ signature before the January transfer deadline.

Almost as quickly as the Paredes rumors surfaced, reports from channels closer to the club have diminished the likelihood of the Roma man’s appearance at Melwood any time soon. Indeed, the Echo suggests that not only are Liverpool uninterested in Paredes’ services at this time (or any other time), the club are increasingly likely to see the end of the transfer window without concluding any business of significance, other than the possible departure of Mamadou Sakho.

That includes closing the book on some other names to which Liverpool have been linked, such as Danish fullback Riza Durmisi. There was some thought that Liverpool’s woeful start to 2017 might have prompted the club to flex some financial muscles in January, but unless Klopp’s recent statement regarding the unlikeliness of any signings is part of an elaborate ruse, it appears the squad will try to see through the season with what they have.