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According to local paper ABC de Sevilla, Liverpool have opened negotiations for 23-year-old Sevilla starting goalkeeper Sergio Rico, one of the brightest young talents in La Liga, and he could be had for as little as €12M. If true, it would be a bargain fee for a talented, promising player.
It seems unlikely to be given Liverpool have signalled that they have no intention of changing their goalkeeping situation this summer and that they will head into the season with Simon Mignolet penciled in at number one while Loris Karius competes for playing time in his second year at the club.
They also have young Danny Ward, who impressed on loan at Huddersfield Town last season. The club will have to find a new home for him regardless, with the only question whether it’s another loan spell or a permanent sale. That will depend on both the player’s wants and how he looks in pre-season.
Regardless, there have been no signs from the club that a goalkeeper will be signed or that one of either Mignolet or Karius is set to be moved on, and given the rumours are originating from Spain, the likeliest culprit here as in a great many transfer rumours is the player’s agent.
La Liga is awash in young goalkeeping talent, with Barcelona’s Marc Andre ter Stegen and Atletico Madrid’s Jan Oblak at the top of the heap. After them, though, comes Sevilla’s Rico, who is likely to be Spain’s number two behind David de Gea at next summer’s World Cup.
After breaking through to the first team in 2014-15 as a 20-year-old, the towering 6’5” (1.95m) Rico has been a fixture for his boyhood club, making 139 total appearances over the past three seasons. And he’s still on the deal he signed in the summer of 2014 when he made the step up from Sevilla B.
Liverpool may not need a goalkeeper or be looking for one, but for a stopper of Rico’s quality, saying they are could be helpful in getting a new contract—one that better reflects his talent and standing. That, and not genuine Liverpool interest in signing another goalkeeper, is likely what’s going on here.