Rumour Mongering: Liverpool and Arsenal Target’s Contract Talks Stall

With both Liverpool and Arsenal having been linked with Schalke's 22-year-old midfielder Leon Goretzka in the past, the rumour mongers are taking little time to turn news in Germany about his contract talks failing to show any signs of movement as a reason to breathe new life into an old rumour.

Following a report in Bild that could, with a little bit of squinting, be read as acceptance by the German club that they will have to let Goretzka move on, Goal and others in England today have suggested that those two previously supposedly interested English clubs might just have been put on alert.

"I think he has made his position relatively clear," Schalke chief executive Christian Heidel told Bild this week when asked about Goretzka's future at the club given the youngster's contract is set to expire in the summer of 2018. "I cannot say any more. So far we have not held any intensive talks."

With just a year left to go on his current deal and with Schalke knowing they could lose him on a free in 2018, that serious talks haven't taken place yet is indeed a sign—one that, for most players and in most cases, could well mean he will be leaving his current club when the current season ends.

In the case of Liverpool, at least, if top midfield target Naby Keita can be signed, a move for Goretzka would be unlikely. If Liverpool are beaten to Keita, though—and Bayern Munich are amongst the long list of supposed suitors for the RB Leipzig man—Goretzka could be an interesting fallback option.