Liverpool, Barcelona, and Borussia Dortmund Bid for Left Back Raphael Guerreiro

With Liverpool having already wrapped up the signing of goalkeeper Loris Karius for a bargain £4.7M, the club have quickly moved on to other positions of need, including left back. Already, there have been reliable reports of serious interest in Leicester City starlet Ben Chilwell, with a £4M offer mooted.

There have also been reports in Germany that Cologne have signed a replacement for Jonas Hector specifically because they expect to lose their current starting left back—and the man widely expected to start for Germany at this summer’s Euros—to the Reds within the month. As if that weren’t enough, there’s now a third.

That third is Lorient’s 22-year-old left back Raphael Guerreiro, who recorded three goals and two assists in 41 total appearances this past season for the French club, and whose club vice-president has today claimed that he has received bids from Liverpool, Borussia Dortmund, and at least one other club—with a fourth expected.

"No one wants to see Raphael leave," said Lorient vice-president Alex Hayes. "He will only go if a club makes an offer we can’t refuse. For the moment, four major foreign clubs—including Dortmund and Liverpool—have made an offer. The fourth shouldn’t take too long to be made but for the moment none of them satisfy us."

At least one of those clubs is likely to be Barcelona, who have been linked with a move to bring in Guerreiro as the backup to Jordi Alba. Certainly, then, given the competition and that the offer made doesn’t appear to meet Lorient’s asking price, there are plenty of ways for a move for Guerreiro to break down and go nowhere.

Still, it appears Liverpool are very, very determined to being in at least one new left back ahead of next season—or maybe three if every deal they’re apparently trying to make comes off at once.