‘I like him’: Brazil legend Taffarel hails Tottenham and Liverpool linked star

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Jose Mourinho and Jurgen Klopp reportedly want to bring Trabzonspor goalkeeper Ugurcan Cakir to the Premier League this summer.

Ugurcan Cakir has a fan in the shape of Brazilian goalkeeping legend Claudio Taffarel, amid speculation linking the Trabzonspor star with a move to Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur.

The team from Trabzon are still hoping to lift their first Super Lig title since 1984, despite the global health crisis which has paused the 2019/20 season in it’s tracks. But, as they are about to discover, there is a downside to success.

Barely a day goes by these days without one of Trabzonspor’s prized assets being linked with a big-money move away from Turkey. Top scorer Alexander Sorloth is apparently in the sights of Europe’s biggest and best – and the same goes for the man performing heroics at the other end of the pitch.

Tottenham are already expected to return with a £24 million offer for Cakir after seeing an initial £18 million bid rejected (Fanatik). The Turkish international is just one of a number of talented shot-stoppers who has been linked with Jose Mourinho’s side recently, perhaps a reflection of Hugo Lloris’s advancing years.

And should Spurs tempt Trabzonspor into a sale, Cakir will be heading to England with Taffarel’s blessing.

“I follow goalkeepers in Turkey. There are significant developments in the Turkish football in terms of goalkeeping in the recent years,” the 101-cap Brazil hero, who helped the Samba giants to glory at the 1994 World Cup, tells Karadeniz Gazete.

“I follow the Ugurcan Cakir and I like him a lot. He will also develop.”

Liverpool have also been linked on a number of occasions of late and there have been a few interesting claims made about a potential move to Anfield. Sinan Bolat recently suggested to Ajansspor that his fellow Turkey international was Anfield bound.

And, shortly before that, Leicester City’s head of recruitment Lee Congerton was quoted by Karadeniz Gazete as saying that Liverpool had made a bid for Cakir’s services.