Liverpool’s Purported Interest In Julian Brandt Makes Little Sense

The finale of the 2018 FIFA World Cup is in sight, which means that a compressed transfer window is about to kick into high gear for Premier League clubs. Since the surprise announcement of Fabinho’s arrival at Anfield, there has been little concrete activity by the Reds on the market, though all that may change very shortly.

Still, some rumors make more sense than others. Liverpool are almost certainly looking for reinforcements on the attacking front, but the most recent reports of their renewed interest in German international Julian Brandt seem puzzling, to say the least.

Which is not to say that there may not be anything behind the rumor. Jürgen Klopp is acknowledged to be an ardent fan of the 22-year-old attacker currently plying his trade at Bayer Leverkusen. And it was ironically a thwarted pursuit of Brandt that ultimately led to Mohamed Salah signing for Liverpool - the rest of that particular story is well known to the footballing world by now.

CalcioInsider are now reporting that Liverpool are now preparing a fresh approach for Brandt, who only just signed a new contract in April to extend his relationship with Leverkusen through 2021. While those reports do not mention the size of the initial offer, they do note that Brandt is rated at around €60million.

Young and immensely talented, Brandt would be a valuable addition to this squad. Despite limited appearances off the bench, he was arguably one of the few bright spots in a rather disastrous World Cup campaign by Joachim Löw’s squad. But the purported price tag represents a starter-sized outlay of cash for Liverpool, and it’s not clear that the German winger would supplant either Salah or Mané out wide on a regular basis.

Couple that with the indications that Brandt’s prior rejection of a Liverpool move was due to concerns over playing time, and this purported approach for what would be a depth option seems even more unlikely. For this position, the suggested interest in Stoke City’s Xherdan Shaqiri seem much more plausible. Liverpool seem poised to make at least one or two more additions before the window closes, but the Leverkusen man is probably not one of them.