Rumour Mongering: Georgian Sensation Wants Klopp Connection

With a relatively normal summer and its accompanying international tournament forthcoming, transfer rumours are going to be vastly overrepresented in the football cub news cycle this year. Because we care about our readers and their mental sharpness, we’ve decided to go with one that will you have triple and quadruple checking your spelling.

So. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia is an up-and-coming attacker who will not be strutting his stuff at the Euros this summer. He is, however, far and away Rubin Kazan’s hottest property at the moment, and looks likely to be plying his trade in a bigger league next season.

“Negotiations are underway with many clubs. We are already in a decisive phase. Who are we negotiating with? I cannot say that,” the talkative 20-year old told Georgian publication Sportall.

“Negotiations with Leeds? Yes, they have been conducted and may resume,” he continued almost immediately, before adding: “I think the most interesting thing would be working with Jurgen Klopp.”

In addition to dreams of winning the Champions League and playing for a team that has constant possession, this paints a picture of an ambitious player — he has played for four different clubs in as many years — with a high regard for his own potential ability.

A willing presser and an aggressive dribbler — he completed four dribbles per 90 minutes this season — the Dinamo Tbilisi youth product fits the model for both of the teams mentioned as well, and would be an enticing prospect. His 0.37 expected goals and assists per 90 — and matching actual goals and assists tally — over the past two seasons may not jump off the page, but having accumulated that sort of productivity before turning 20 is not at all something to be scoffed at.

Although his penchant for taking low-quality shots is a tendency that would have to be broken, the six-foot winger and nutmeg aficionado possesses composure and close control in tight spaces, a collection of nifty outside the boot passes through traffic, and an absolute demon of a right foot, all of which are qualities that can carry over to both a transition and possession game.

For Liverpool, the situation is doubly interesting, not only in that Kvaratskhelia could be a potential depth signing for their front line, but his moving to Leeds could also signal the Yorkshire club beginning succession planning for the potential departure of rumoured Reds target Raphinha. Eyes emoji.

All told, this is most likely a player doing his best to engineer as advantageous a move as possible for himself, and Kvaratskhelia is absolutely the sort of player Liverpool would pick up when he’s proven himself further in two years time for £40m, rather than the reported £20m it would take right now, but if Michael Edwards decided to get a jump on Southampton or RB Leipzig for once, this wouldn’t be a bad way to go about it.