Rumour Mongering: Liverpool and Juventus Battle for Ligue 1 Fullback

When Liverpool boss Jürgen Klopp recently answered a French journalist who asked why the club didn’t have any of his countrymen in the squad by saying he’d like one but they’re too expensive, there was always going to be a few transfer rumours as a result.

From fans taking the chance to spin Klopp’s statement into a not yet and revive calls to sign Kylian Mbappe to the rumour mongers making lists of potential bargain targets, a few new stories were inevitable. And so we have one today, with Toulouse’s Mathieu Gonçalves.

The 18-year-old fullback has played just five games for Toulouse this season, but he’s said to be attracting interest around Europe, and Italian outlet Calciomercato claim Juventus and—you guessed it—Liverpool are at the head of the queue now lining up for him.

Gonçalves came up through the system at Toulouse and has regularly represented France at the youth level. This is his first year with the senior squad and, according to the reports, he’s now dragging his feet on a new deal with his current one expiring in 2021.

In cases like this, it’s safest to assume the player’s agent is behind the chatter, looking to secure a better deal. The only reason to think this might be something other than that is that Calciomercato seem fairly certain Juventus are already negotiating for him.

Still, we’re inclined to be skeptical—particularly of the suggestion that Gonçalves is a priority January target for both the Serie A and Premier League sides—even if fullback is an area where Liverpool look like they could use a little added depth in.