Liverpool interest in Crystal Palace’s Marc Guehi and Atalanta star Giorgi Scalvini is not going as planned as the search for Jarell Quansah’s replacement continues.
The young defender is now a Bayer Leverkusen player and the Reds need to sign a new centre back to replace him.
Their pursuit of Guehi is complicated by the Eagles’ £65m asking price which Liverpool consider to be excessive.
Meanwhile, 21-year-old Scalvini may also be out of reach financially.
Latest on Liverpool interest in Guehi and Scalvini
According to Football Insider and former scout Mick Brown, Liverpool would like to include young Ben Doak in a deal for Guehi.
Palace, for their part, may not value Doak as highly as Liverpool do which will likely be the reason a deal doesn’t happen in this way.
Brown tells Football Insider: “I’m sure a swap is something Liverpool would like to do.
“They want to sign Guehi and Palace are interested in Doak, so on the face of it, it might make sense for the two players to switch clubs.
“It won’t be as easy as that, though, because the value isn’t there for Palace.
“Liverpool want £30million if they’re going to sell Doak, so they could say to Palace ‘we’ll give you £30million plus Doak’ and value that as a £60million deal.
“But from a Palace point of view, if they don’t think he’s worth £30million, the deal doesn’t make sense.
“Palace don’t want to come out of that deal on the losing side.
“They would rather take £50million up front because then it’s money in the bank.
“They can go out and sign somebody like Doak or another attacking target with that money.
“I think they’ve got the stronger hand because ultimately it’s Liverpool who want Guehi, so Palace can demand whatever they want for him.”
Meanwhile, Liverpool are equally unlikely to meet the demands of Atalanta for their centre-back Scalvini.
“I think Scalvini may already be too expensive for Liverpool,” Grame. “If we’re not talking about Konate’s replacement, if we’re talking about a young player, I think he’s probably a bit too much already potentially. I think you’re talking £40-50m.
“Also with the injury record he’s got in the past 12 months, he’s a brilliant player, he certainly ticks all the boxes, but I’m not 100 per cent that Liverpool take him right now.”
