Latest Liverpool transfer news and rumours surrounds a number of clubs are lined up to recruit Khvicha Kvaratskhelia this month.
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia has made significant headlines in world football this week, with a number of clubs interested in signing him before the January transfer window closes. Liverpool have surfaced as a prospective destination, having long admired the Napoli winger.
However, it has been stated that any such transfer is unlikely to occur this winter. Arne Slot has already named six frontmen for his three-man attack at Anfield: Luis Diaz, Darwin Nunez, Mohamed Salah, Diogo Jota, Federico Chiesa, and Cody Gakpo.
Besides links to Liverpool, Chelsea are also said to be in the mix but it’s the French champions Paris Saint-Germain that are started a ‘concrete attack’ to secure Kvaratskhelia’s signature. “Paris Saint-Germain started a concrete attack for Kvaratskhelia,” Fabrizio Romano has said in a recent update shared on YouTube.
“That was an exclusive update but it doesn’t mean that a deal is done. It means that PSG are in negotiations with Napoli.”
‘Verbal agreement’
Italian journalist Gianluca Di Marzio claims Napoli have ‘scheduled a meeting’ for next week with Paris Saint-Germain for Kvaratskhelia. It’s said a ‘verbal agreement’ has already been reached between player and club.
PSG is said to be willing to pay €70-€75 million for his services. However, if a deal is not reached, they would be willing to loan Milan Skriniar and pay his full salary.
Lorenzo Pellegrini of Roma and Galeno of FC Porto are reportedly being ‘examined’ as potential backups.
Arne Slot’s comments
The Reds’ head coach has refused to be pulled into the latest transfer rumors. In his Friday press conference, he added: “When you said yourself ‘linked with’, I was thinking, ‘Which club is he going to say now?'”
“But you mean as a club, we are affiliated with Kvaratskhelia. What I make of that is that it is January, and I believe I told journalists after the West Ham United game, “Please don’t disappoint me, come up with all these players and clubs that are in our interest.”
“Or those who don’t play much for us will go elsewhere. That [speculation] is currently taking place. And nine out of ten, or 99 out of a hundred occasions, it was evident by the end of the window that practically all of these stories were false.
“So, what can I say about it?” The rumours continue, but I have no comment.”
Liverpool stance
The ECHO’s Liverpool correspondent Paul Gorst wrote: “If the emergence of Liverpool’s interest in Kvaratskhelia this week does not necessarily mean that a deal for the Georgia superstar is imminent, it does at least indicate that it is busier behind the scenes than the front of house sometimes suggests at Anfield.
“Whether Kvaratskhelia has been earmarked as a potential replacement in the event of an out-of-contract Mohamed Salah departing – and there is no suggestion of that at this stage – or whether the posterboy of Georgian football has been lined to further supplement an attacking department bursting at the seams with quality; their interest, however tentative at this stage, shows the level of player that is being tracked by a new-look backroom team led by Slot and spor.
“The Liverpool Echo understands that there has been no formal contact between Liverpool and Napoli this month over Kvaratskhelia’s deal. However, the winger has been on the club’s radar since he emerged as one of Serie A’s top talents, and the club has long admired him.
