Liverpool linked to superstar forward
By Tom Vinall
According to Pete O'Rourke of publication Football Insider, Liverpool are "plotting a sensational late window move" for long term target Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.
He goes on to say that the winger is valued at more than £70m by the Naples club, and thus any deal would be difficult to do. Aurelio De Laurentiis, the owner of Napoli, is known for being a nightmare to deal with. See the Victor Osimhen saga this summer.
The Georgian winger agreed personal terms with PSG earlier on in the summer, but clearly De Laurentiis was once again too hard to agree a fee with, and for now he remains in Naples. Liverpool will still give it a go though, according to the report.
Kvaratskhelia's 23/24 campaign was not as impressive as his previous campaign, which spearheaded Napoli to their first league title before or after Diego Maradona, but still scored 11 goals and provided a further nine assists, as per SofaScore.
Liverpool are the only club in the top five leagues to not sign a player in 2024, but very few saw a link to Kvaratskhelia coming. Ironically, they have also been linked to his compatriot, Giorgi Mamardashvili, from Valencia.
There has been a lot of talk that they need a defensive midfielder, one year after Fabinho and Jordan Henderson left for Saudi Arabia. They tried for Spain international Martin Zubimendi from Real Sociedad, but he turned down a move to stay put at his childhood club in San Sebastian.
In any case, a left-winger has hardly been mentioned. Cody Gakpo and Luis Diaz had impressive international tournaments, at the European Championships and Copa America respectively, and fans have not seen it as a priority position.
That said, Diaz is perennially linked to FC Barcelona, and perhaps this interest in Kvaratskhelia is succession planning from the Merseyside club.
Whilst there is no doubt a defensive midfielder is more important than a left-winger, if you cannot get in a defensive midfielder that you want, and a superstar such as Kvaratskhelia becomes available, why not improve your team. A front three of Salah-Jota-Kvaratskhelia is pretty mouth watering.
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