Rumor Mongering: Liverpool After Norwich City Man?

Over the course of a season there will be many players linked to Liverpool, and these transfer rumors fall into a few different categories. There are your absolute worldies, the stars we must have who could be genuine game-changers (‘sup, Jorginho). There are the interesting mid-range players, who aren’t going to be superstars but could really add a lot to the side (how’s it going, Piotr Zielinski?). There are the total head-scratchers who make absolutely no sense (Marouane Fellaini? Really?) And then there are the totally random footballers you’ve probably never heard of before.

Today is a day for that final category. The Mirror report that Liverpool are interested in Norwich City’s James Maddison, with the Championship side’s financial situation requiring them to sell both him and Josh Murphy. The article states that Tottenham Hotspur are also interested in Maddison, with Norwich putting an asking price of £30 million on his head.

It can often be difficult to gauge how well an exciting young player in the Championship will be able to transfer his skills to the Premier League, but from what we can gather Maddison looks to be a talent. He has spent most of his time this season in a central attacking midfield role, but is also able to fill in on the right. Having fourteen goals and eight league assists to his name this year, he has been a strong contributor to a Norwich City side that has otherwise struggled to score goals this year. All of this is from a player who is just twenty one years of age, and as such should hopefully have room for improvement.

James Maddison has been linked to Liverpool in the past, with the very well connected Paul Joyce reporting back in 2016 that he was on the club’s radar. Obviously that move didn’t transpire at the time, but it is known that Liverpool are keen to maintain a long term interest in targets (you may remember that Mohamed Salah almost moved to the club back in January 2014). It’s hard to judge the validity of this rumor, but it is one that would make a fair amount of sense were it to come true.