Rumour Mongering: Liverpool Want to Sign World Cup Star Josko Gvardiol

What Liverpool need most is to rebuild their midfield, with the club having failed to refresh an aging core the past two summers and now looking ahead to a third where signings will become more difficult as they are almost certain not to finish in the top four.

Despite that, in January they passed on midfield in favour of bringing in forward Cody Gakpo. And the latest out of Italy now has them looking to make a splash at centre half by signing World Cup standout Josko Gvardiol in the offseason—though the player is said to prefer a move to Real Madrid.

Madrid, though, are yet to show they’re willing to pay RB Leipzig’s €100M asking price, which has Premier League sides Liverpool, Chelsea, and Manchester United all interested and perhaps willing to step in should a move to La Liga fail to solidify as a result.

While the potential departure of Joël Matip would mean a need for a new centre half, with Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konaté the presumed first choice pairing it’s rather difficult to imagine the club prioritising what would be a massively expensive signing in defence given their needs further forward.

It’s not that any Reds fan would say no to a player like Gvardiol separated from context. It’s just that the 21-year-old Gvardiol is said to be valued at €100M by RB Leipzig and there is a larger context. Namely that Liverpool need two or even three new midfielders.

The priority remains Jude Bellingham, who would himself cost well over €100M, and he can’t be the Reds’ only signing in the middle. It’s difficult to imagine, then, a similar outlay on a centre half—leaving us to assume this is the work of Leipzig name dropping Liverpool to raise his price.