Speculation has mounted in recent days that Liverpool were keen on signing Sven Botman.
The Lille centre-back is having a brilliant season in Ligue 1 and with the Reds needing central defenders, it was rumoured that Jurgen Klopp and Michael Edwards would try bring the 20-year-old to Anfield.
Foot Mercato claimed last week that £27 million might be enough for Liverpool to prise the big Dutch defender away from Stade Pierre Mauroy.
There was even further intrigue at the weekend when the player posted Instagram photos of himself sitting in his agent’s office, along with a handshake emoji to suggest a possible deal.
But according to David Ornstein of The Athletic, Liverpool do not have any plans on bringing in the towering defender this month – or in the summer.
He told The Athletic’s YouTube channel: “Liverpool have one of the best recruitment operations in world football, so I’m sure they’ll be across it, but we’re told that they don’t have any specific interest and are not working on Botman for the summer either. Things can change so there’s no point in us giving too definitive an answer either way.”
This will be disappointing for fans of the Premier League champions.
Klopp is without Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez for the foreseeable future, while Joel Matip can’t be relied upon at this stage.
Fabinho, a midfielder, is the German manager’s best centre-back right now, which illustrates the need to get another body in, but it won’t be Botman it seems.
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