Rumour Mongering: Liverpool Drop Markovic Price with Watford Interested

Lazar Marković was supposed to be Liverpool’s star on the wing for the next decade after Liverpool signed him from Benfica in a £20M deal in 2014, but once he arrived at Anfield, that outcome never seemed likely, and an underwhelming debut season was followed up by a series of of unsuccessful loan spells.

Marković’s latest, and arguably most successful, was a half-season at Hull City, where he scored two goals in 14 total, good for a goal involvement every 567 minutes. Despite the poor return, his performances were generally well reviewed, and in recent weeks there have been whispers Silva wants to continue the relationship at Watford.

After Hull and manager Marco Silva were relegated, the Portuguese manager promptly switched to Watford—who survived in the Premier League last season by finishing one place and six points ahead of Hull before dumping their own manager. Since then, Markovic to Watford has been a quietly persistent rumour.

Previously, though, Liverpool’s insistence on recouping the £20M they paid for Markovic seemed like to block the move. With no takers emerging at £20m and with players prepare to return to their clubs in England, though, the Reds may be softening their stance in order to get Markovic off the books for good

Or at least that’s what Watford’s local paper, the Hertfordshire Mercury, are claiming today. They say that now, Liverpool would accept £12M for the 23-year-old Serbian international, and that at that price, Watford could could afford to sign him. Though at £12M they may have competition from Zenit and Galatasaray.

If true, it appears that £12M might be the price it takes to find a full time taker for Markovic, though if there really are three interested clubs it would be mildly disappointing from a Liverpool point of view if, in the current inflated transfer market, that’s all they could manage to get back for him.