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It's easy to forget that Liverpool's season ended less than a week ago, or that there's a World Cup coming up in less than a month, or that there's still a month and a half to go before the transfer window actually opens. As it tends to be, the immediate post-season period has been rife with rumors and rumblings, and the past few days have seen a relative uptick in transfer talk. Considering Brendan Rodgers' stated emphasis on bringing players in before proceedings in Brazil get underway, it's understandable, and if reports from Germany are to be believed, the club are closing in on their first signing with a fee proposed--and possibly agreed--for Bayer Leverkusen's Emre Can.
Just a few days ago Leverkusen's sporting director Rudi Voeller declined the opportunity to make a statement about Can's future, and now Sport Bild are running with a story that Liverpool are set to trigger a €12m release clause in the midfielder's contract. After starting at Bayern Munich but never making the breakthrough--which, considering the quality in their midfield, isn't terribly shameful--he was sold on to Leverkusen in the summer of 2013.
Bayern retained a buy-back clause, leading to speculation that they would be the frontrunners for the player's signature if they wanted to bring him back to Bavaria, but recent clarification indicates that's not necessarily the case:
@mast84 only within Germany, reports @uersfeld
— Raphael Honigstein (@honigstein) May 17, 2014
Having seen him play only a handful of times, I asked for a bit of help with any sort of evaluation; consensus seemed to be that he's still got plenty of growing left to do, but certainly a player with plenty of promise and one who's already made a significant leap in the past year (thanks to Elizabeth and Conor). He's primarily operated in defensive midfield, but he's capable of featuring further forward as well as at left-back, which fits nicely with Rodgers' emphasis on adaptability without much drop-off in terms of quality.
It has the makings of a smart signing for both now--even in limited duty--and the future, and one that we'll be sure to keep an eye on in the coming days and weeks.
Video by MrBoyWunder
