Liverpool have entered the race to sign Maastricht defender Xavier Mbuyamba, according to Voetbal International.
The Dutch outlet have claimed that the Reds will face competition from Celtic, Porto, Bayern Munich and Premier League rivals Chelsea.
Mbuyamba is understood to be currently visiting Chelsea and training with their academy sides, despite their on-going transfer ban.
The report claims to believe that the defender, 17, will leave his current club when his contract expires at the end of the season.
OPINION
This is an intriguing transfer link in regards to Liverpool. Xavier Mbuyamba is relatively untested in professional football, only making 11 appearances this season but the clubs that are linked with him show that he definitely has the talent. At 6’5″, Mbuyamba is a huge presence in any back four and would definitely be sent directly to the academy as a prospect for the future. With Dutch presence Virgil Van Dijk already succeeding at Liverpool under Jurgen Klopp, the Maastricht youngster could be tempted to follow his footsteps and try and break into the first team fold in the years to come. With clubs like Chelsea interested, Liverpool could skip them in the queue due to their transfer ban and their troubles in appealing the said ban. The report claimed that Mbuyamba was ready to commit his future to Maastricht but the club waited too long to offer him a deal. He made his first team debut at 16-years-old and clearly has a great future ahead of him and Liverpool should not hesitate to introduce him to their academy.
