Rumour Mongering: Inter’s Nicolò Barella Price Tag Set At €75M

Jürgen Klopp and Liverpool FC badly want Jude Bellingham this summer. You know it. I know it. Everyone knows it. All indications point to the Reds preparing a full-court press to bring the 19-year-old to Anfield as soon as the summer transfer window opens.

While the Borussia Dortmund midfielder is making all the transfer headlines, there are other rumoured midfield targets for the Reds as well, and there are several plausible scenarios that could see one or more of those targets signing with LFC in addition to, or in lieu of, Bellingham.

One such target is Inter Milan’s Nicolò Barella. His name hasn’t been bandied about nearly as much as Bellingham’s or even Brighton’s Moisés Caicedo, but there have been clear and consistent rumblings that he is on Klopp’s shortlist of desired targets to help revamp Liverpool’s ailing midfield.

The latest such rumbling comes from Italian outlet Calcio Mercato, who claim Klopp is an admirer of Barella and is ready to push for a move that would bring the 26-year-old to Merseyside. The report goes on to suggest that while Inter, who sit second in the Serie A table, see Barella as a key piece of their team going forward, an offer in the neighborhood of €70-75M would be enough to convince the Milanese side to let him go.

Barella does seem to fit the player profile Liverpool are expected to target as part of the midfield overhaul. He is an established player in his prime making regular, key contributions to a team near the top of the table in one of Europe’s strongest leagues. His price tag, while high, makes sense for a player who could come in and eat up meaningful minutes immediately.

He is also a player that could either complement and mentor a younger signing like Bellingham or serve as the marquee midfield signing if the club are unable to work out a deal for the English starlet.

While this single report doesn’t mean much in the grand scheme of things, and Barella may or may not actually be on Liverpool’s radar, the fact that they are being regularly linked with players like Caicedo and Barella is a very good sign. At least two players who can walk into the starting XI in midfield should be the goal for the upcoming transfer window and those are the type of players that they should be targetting.