Liverpool should concentrate on trying to sign Naby Keita.
Liverpool have been given a boost in their pursuit of Naby Keita, with The Guardian reporting the midfielder is keen to leave Red Bull Leipzig.
A fee of £70 million is being demanded for the dynamic 22-year-old midfielder, who was one of the Bundesliga’s best players last season.
Keita would be more than double the price required to sign Arsenal’s Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who The Mirror reprot remains a top target at £30 million.
RB Leipzig’s Naby Keita in action with Ingolstadt’s Roger Bernardo
Yet despite the disparity in transfer fees – Liverpool should forget about the Arsenal midfielder and focus on Keita.
There are two clear reasons for this despite Oxlade-Chamberlain’s Premier League experience.
In fact the Arsenal stars’s Premier League record actually counts against him.
He has been at Arsenal since 2012 yet has never managed to truly make an imprint on English football.
Even manager Arsene Wenger does not know which is his best position, evidenced by his use of the player on the winger, in central midfield, and at wing-back.
Arsenal’s Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain gestures
In none of these three positions has Oxlade-Chamberlain put together a case to be Arsenal’s nailed on starter, even at this point.
Keita is a specialist, and a special talent. He is a central midfielder who would be able to walk into Liverpool’s starting XI. It is unclear if Oxlade-Chamberlain fits, and where.
The second reason the Arsenal star is an inferior option is his injury record, which has hampered his progress over the last few seasons.
Liverpool should rightly be nervous about bringing in another player with an injury record like Daniel Sturridge, and moving for the more expensive Naby Keita is the safer and superior option.
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