Could Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp consider a shock move for Arturo Vidal as Emre Can nears the exit door at Anfield?
Chances are, Liverpool will need a top-drawer midfielder in January.
Tuttosport reported on Thursday that Juventus have “roughly agreed” a deal to sign Emre Can, who is out of contract at Liverpool in the summer and an impasse over negotiations means that the Reds might be forced to offload him next month.
If and when that happens, manager Jurgen Klopp is going to need an excellent replacement and the German manager should consider challenging Chelsea for Arturo Vidal.
Chelsea have been linked with the Chilean midfielder, who has 18 months left on his Bayern Munich contract and is worth around £31 million, according to Transfermarkt.
It goes without saying that Liverpool’s Premier League rivals have a big advantage over Klopp in the form of Antonio Conte, who managed Vidal at Juventus, but his first-team prospects might just be brighter at Anfield than Stamford Bridge.
At Chelsea, Conte has an abundance of central midfield options, be it Cesc Fabregas, N’Golo Kante, Danny Drinkwater or Tiemoue Bakayoko and surely the Italian coach can’t guarantee first-team football with such competition.
At Liverpool, Vidal would be competing with Jordan Henderson, Gini Wijnaldum, an aging James Milner and an Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain who may or may not have a long-term future in midfield under Klopp.
Surely a player of Vidal’s vintage would walk into Klopp’s midfield, or at the very least he would feel more optimistic about playing regularly. Even with Naby Keita arriving in July, a Keita-Vidal axis is an exciting prospect that could and would reap rewards for Liverpool.
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