Officials from Sunderland, Liverpool and RB Leipzig are all involved in discussions over Geertruida, with the reigning Premier League champions hoping to push through a permanent deal for the 25-year-old ahead of tomorrow’s 7pm deadline.
Geetruida joined Sunderland on a season-long loan from Bundesliga side RB Leipzig in the summer, with the Black Cats having a clause in the deal that enables them to complete a permanent transfer at the end of the season for around €23m.
However, Liverpool have made a formal approach in an attempt to sign Geetruida this month in order to ease their defensive injury situation.
The Reds are currently without Jeremie Frimpong, Connor Bradley and Joe Gomez, which meant they had to play Dominik Szoboszlai at right-back in last night’s 4-1 win over Newcastle United.
Arne Slot knows Geertruida well as he worked with him during his time in charge of Feyeenord, and feels the defender’s positional versatility would be a major benefit to Liverpool.
Geertruida has played as a right-back, centre-half and defensive midfielder during his time with Sunderland and impressed in all three positions.
Sunderland’s recruitment team, led by director of football Florent Ghisolfi, have held talks with the Liverpool hierarchy, and are understood to be willing to allow a deal to happen if they can source a replacement of their own in the next 48 hours.
Geetruida would have to be recalled from his Leipzig loan in order for a move to Liverpool to take place, before then heading to Anfield.
In some ways, the situation is similar to the one in which Sunderland found themselves with Marc Guiu at the start of the season. Then, Guiu was given permission to rejoin Chelsea despite having signed a loan agreement on Wearside, with the Wearsiders effectively replacing him with Brian Brobbey, who they signed from Ajax.
Sunderland accept that the opportunity to join Liverpool will almost certainly appeal to Geertruida, but would only sanction his exit if they can sign a defensive player of their own before the window closes.
Further talks are planned for the next 24 hours, with Geertruida’s involvement in tomorrow’s home game with Burnley in major doubt no matter what happens in the rest of the day given that his future is so uncertain.