OPINION
Liverpool have always driven a hard bargain when selling their players in recent years and that shouldn’t change anytime soon.
The Reds’ sporting director Michael Edwards has more than proved he is capable of selling players for more than their expected valuation, just see Bournemouth paying £19million for Dominic Solanke (Source: BBC), yet the reported price tag of Nathaniel Clyne sells him short.
According to Goal West Ham and Bournemouth are ready to battle over the 28-year-old right-back in the summer and Liverpool are hoping to receive £15million for his services as a result.
The football outlet claimed that the club are using Ricardo Pereira’s £17.5million move from Porto to Leicester City as a benchmark for determining the player’s value.
Yet Clyne could easily warrant being worth more than the 25-year-old.
Pereira arrived at the Foxes with no previous Premier League experience to his name and this means there was a risk he may struggle to adapt to top-flight football in England.
This isn’t the case with Clyne and other Premier League clubs surely value signing a proven player in this division ahead of a lot of other attributes.
The 28-year-old has played 181 times in the Premier League and it’s currently showing that he is a capable, reliable option in the division while on loan with the Cherries.
Clyne, who can feature as both a left-back as well as a right-back, is defensively strong and an useful attacking outlet for side.
It’s hard to find full-backs who get the balance between going forward and staying back right.
While some may argue his recent poor injury record, which saw him fall down the pecking order at Anfield, means clubs are reluctant to spend big; the fact he has consistently featured for Bournemouth since joining them on loan in January, must be enough to squash any concerns of that nature.
With that in minds Edwards should work his magic to ensure Liverpool get at least a little more than the £15million hoped for Clyne as based on his experience and versatility, that’s an absolute bargain price for someone to pay.
