Rumor Mongering: Flavor Du Jour Edition

They’re still in the Champions League semi-finals with a more than decent opportunity to make an even bigger splash, but that doesn’t mean other clubs aren’t already circling Ajax’s squad like piranhas with an eye towards peeling away their assets over the summer.

According to the Mirror, Liverpool may be one of those piranhas, and the target in question is playmaker Hakim Ziyech. The Moroccan playmaker, who has accumulated 19 goals and 20 assists this season, has been one of Ajax’s more impressive players (in an already impressive collective) during a European campaign that has seen the Dutch club dispatch Juventus and Real Madrid.

Ziyech’s contract runs until 2021, but the Mirror notes that the player could be available for - assuming it’s remotely true - an arguably modest sum of approximately £25million. “At those prices, you’d be throwing money away if you didn’t buy,” says the late night infomercial voice that’s running through your head at the moment. Unsurprisingly, a host of other clubs, including Manchester City, Manchester United, and Arsenal, are mentioned alongside Liverpool in the links.

Still just 26 years of age, Ziyech will be viewed as an option along the lines of Nabil Fekir, whose transfer to Liverpool notoriously fizzled out at the final hurdles. The playmaker role is one that will certainly be highlighted for Liverpool once the summer transfer window opens, and given Ajax’s success (and even accounting for the Eredivisie’s level of competition), it will not be surprising to see more Ziyech stories emerge.