Liverpool FC News: Reds Looking To Sign Juventus Midfielder Claudio Marchisio, Porto Wonderkid Ruben Neves
New Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp started his Reds tenure with a respectable 0-0 against Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane. According to Bleacher Report, the Reds are still looking to replace the big hole that Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard left in midfield.
In a report by Spanish channel Fichajes as translated by The Mirror, Klopp is looking to sign Juventus midfielder Claudia Marchisio for £23.5 million to fill the void. The report notes that Marchisio is also a target of Arsenal and Manchester United.
It would be harder to sign the 29-year-old as he signed a new, five-year contract extension with the Turin-based club. In the official Juventus website, Marchisio stated, "It's a wonderful day. I've always wanted to wear this shirt and I'm lucky enough to be able to do so for another five years."
Bleacher Report added that the Italian national has played his entire career with the Bianconeri and has been a great player despite having Andrea Pirlo, Paul Pogba and Arturo Vidal alongside in the midfield. Juventus will likely keep him as Pirlo and Vidal already left, and Pogba has been a consistent target of big name clubs like Real Madrid, Barcelona, PSG and Chelsea.
Marchisio has made a total of 339 appearances for Juventus with 36 goals and 38 assists while being capped for the Italian National team 53 times, per Soccerway.com.
Another target for Klopp and the Reds to bring to Anfield is FC Porto's midfielder wonderkid Ruben Neves. In a report by Fichajes via The Metro, Liverpool has already made contact with the player, beating out Chelsea.
The report also notes that Real Madrid and Barcelona have offered more money to Neves, but the Portuguese youngster has chosen to play for Klopp and Liverpool. The 18-year-old has all the talent despite his age and already is featured regularly for Porto's first team.
Neves is still raw but is very technically gifted, which could be the former Borussia Dortmund's boss first project with his new club. He can even become the permanent replacement for Gerrard, per Bleacher Report. The 48-year-old coach is known for developing young players into world-class athletes such as Mario Gotze, Mats Hummels, Shinji Kagawa, Nuri Sahin, Ilkay Gundogan and Robert Lewandowski.
The report also speculated that the 18-year-old avoided Chelsea as Jose Mourinho has the reputation of not playing youngsters in the squad and frequently loaning them out to a point that they won't even make any appearances with the club before moving to a new one.
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