The Liverpool linked centre-forward Maximilian Beier has been called up by Germany boss Julian Nagelsmann for the first time with the Hoffenheim striker’s £25 million release clause looking more and more like a bargain.
With the European Championships on home soil now only three months away, Julian Nagelsmann brought six new faces into his squad for those pre-tournament preparations. Maximilian Beier got the nod alongside a number of Stuttgart stars, and one wonders if this is the first of many occasions in which Nagelsmann finds himself sharing a dressing room with the Hoffenheim frontman.
HITC Football understands that the former Bayern Munich and RB Leipzig boss is one of the names under consideration to replace compatriot Jurgen Klopp at Anfield. With Xabi Alonso potentially staying at Bayer Leverkusen, Liverpool may instead be tempted to go all in on the Bundesliga’s previous managerial wunderkind.
There is interest from the Merseyside giants in Beier too. Understandably so, with a £25 million release clause in his Hoffenheim contract (Sky Germany).
So, purely hypothetical this may be, what are the chances of Nagelsmann and Beier being reunited at Anfield in the post-Klopp era?
Liverpool can sign Maximilian Beier for just £25 million
With 12 goals and five assists to his name from 20 Bundesliga starts this term – at the age of just 21 no less – Hoffenheim coach Pellegrino Matarazzo knows one thing; with Germany suffering from a paucity of elite number nines, young Beier is certainly worthy of a chance.
“On the pitch he is an animal, and off the pitch he is a shy boy,” Matarazzo tells Sports Illustrated. “This balancing act makes him so friendly, in our team and in the entire environment.
“(The call-up) is definitely deserved because he’s so effective for us on the pitch.
“He has had) his ups and downs. These phases that every player has in their development were very short, and then quickly rose explosively again. That just speaks for the boy.”
Germany’s answer to Rasmus Hojlund
There is reportedly interest amongst Everton and Nottingham Forest in Beier too. At over 6ft, and a fearsome physical specimen who combines raw power and serious pace and often electric finishing, Beier fits in nicely with this new generation of number nine, alongside Rasmus Hojlund, Viktor Gyokeres, a certain Erling Haaland and Liverpool’s own Darwin Nunez.
Beier, of course, is more of a Hojlund than a Haaland. In the sense that, if Liverpool are to trigger that £25 million clause, he would arrive at Anfield not as the finished article but as a work in progress.
But, from Mo Salah to Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino to Luis Diaz, Liverpool have long since established themselves as a club where good players tend to become great ones. A reputation they will be desperate to maintain once Klopp rides off into the sunset.
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