Premier League heavyweights Liverpool and Manchester United are in a transfer battle for Valencia striker Maxi Gomez, according to Calcio Mercato.
The Italian outlet claims that the two old rivals are both in for the 23-year-old, who only moved to the Mestalla from La Liga side Celta Vigo last summer.
The Uruguay international cost just £12.9million, but it’s now thought that he has a staggering release clause of £120million and a contract until 2024.
Gomez has five goals and one assist in 15 games so far this season [Source: Transfermarkt].
OPINION
When you consider the possibility of bringing Gomez to Anfield, the question is whether the Reds would be able to get Valencia to lower their valuation of him. There’s no way that Liverpool would be willing to spend £120million on the striker, no matter how much they like him. Gomez is a good player, there’s no doubt about it, but he’s not worth that much money and, besides, he’d only be a back up behind the Reds’ established front three. With that said, the person to compare him to to see if he’s worth buying is Divock Origi. Fortunately for the Valencia man, he measures up pretty well to the Belgian so far this term. As per WhoScored.com, Gomez beats out Origi in average shots and key passes per game, while he’s scored more times as well. Furthermore, he gets fouled more regularly and is dispossessed less often, while his average WhoScored rating per outing of 6.84 is way ahead of Origi’s 6.45. So Gomez would perhaps represent an upgrade on Origi, but does that make him worth spending £120million on? Probably not.
