Rumour Mongering: Liverpool Make Contact with £90M-Rated Lille Forward

Liverpool have passed on the opportunity to trigger the £50M release clause of Timo Werner. Which means that obviously they’re going to now turn their attentions to trying to sign a promising but far less proven forward who would cost considerably more.

That last bit’s sarcasm, of course. But what apparently isn’t are the words of 21-year-old Lille and Nigeria forward Victor Osimhen’s agent, who says his client is currently deciding which top English club he will be joining this summer after getting a series of offers.

This follows rumours that Osimhen, who Lille valued at €100M (or around £90M) before the whole coronavirus pandemic happened, was set to join Napoli. Rumours his agent says are getting ahead of himself. Because Osimhen could instead be joining Liverpool.

“Napoli has not agreed a deal with Osimhen,” his agent told AllNigeriaSoccer, adding that all of Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham, Manchester United, and Liverpool are options along with Napoli that his client is choosing between. It’s quite a list of supposed suitors.

And, assuming Napoli actually has made any kind of firm offer—which we’re dubious about given Lille’s past valuation and the whole coronavirus thing and that Napoli aren’t sitting on oil money—it seems a list concocted entirely to get his client a better deal.

Mostly what’s interesting here isn’t that there’s an agent putting Liverpool’s name into the mix in the hopes of a better deal from someone—last summer, then-Lille winger Nicoals Pepe’s agent did the same—but just how transparently ridiculous it all is.