Barcelona centre back Thomas Vermaelen will be allowed to leave the Catalan club this summer and he has two offers on the table according to AS.
The offers are believed to be from Italy and England, and the Spanish newspaper is suggesting that the two clubs involved are Roma and Liverpool. The Belgian international has moved further down the pecking order at Barca after the signing of Samuel Umtiti from Lyon. Although the departure of Marc Bartra to Borussia Dortmund does improve his chances, he is unlikely to displace Umtiti and Gerard Pique from the starting line up, while former Liverpool player Javier Mascherano would be seen as the third option, and Jeremy Mathieu would also be picked ahead of him if he stays at the club.
Although it is unlikely the Reds will move for another centre back this summer after signing both Joel Matip and Ragnar Klavan, Jurgen Klopp’s comments after the 2-1 defeat to Roma suggest he is not entirely happy with cover in the central defence. Klopp has said the loss of Sakho and Gomez to Achilles injuries leaves the Reds short of cover but his dilemma is that he doesn’t want to buy someone just for “few weeks.” It maybe have been the case that Vermaelen was to be a replacement for Sakho if the French defender was suspended for a doping violation. When those allegations were dropped, the pursuit may have been called off.
