The Napoli winger could be a January target for Liverpool
According to reports this morning from that ever-reliable source of LFC transfer news Calciomercato (via talkSport and the Daily Express), the club are looking to make transfer moves for Dries Mertens of Napoli, and Maximilian Hofmann of Rapid Wien.
The Belgian winger Mertens has had a superb start to the season for Napoli, who are currently sitting in 3rd in Serie A. The 28 year old has been at Napoli for the past three seasons, and has been largely impressive throughout his time at the club, scoring at least ten goals in his first two and already managing six this season.
The the 44-time capped Belgian international is a known quantity as a goalscoring winger and would certainly add some quality and experience out wide for the Reds, whilst his fee (reportedly upwards of £13 million) would not be too much of a strain on the club’s resources.
The Napoli player is apparently stalling on signing a new contract, and it is believed he would prefer a move away from Italy, supposedly expressing no interest in staying in Serie A.
Meanwhile, the same source claims that Liverpool will look to strengthen defensively with a move for 22 year old Austrian defender Maximilian Hofmann.
According to reports, Jurgen attempted to sign the player at Dortmund (apparently, he’s a big fan) but was knocked back, whilst a number of German sides are also believed to be chasing the player.
No doubt most fans or ‘experts’ know very little of the player himself, particularly as he’s played barely 40 times for the club but if reports are to be believed then the manager thinks very highly of him and his age and profile would fit in with the club’s supposed recruitment strategy.
It is unclear what kind of fee the Austrian club would be after but with injuries to Mamadou Sakho, Dejan Lovren and Joe Gomez a long-term loss, it would make sense that the club would be looking at defensive reinforcements.
But considering where these reports originated, it may be best to hold off until January to see whether there’s much truth to these.
