Liverpool have held exploratory talks to sign a Premier League star, potentially in January, and he could triple his wages at Anfield.
Liverpool’s January search gathers pace
REUTERS/Phil Noble
Liverpool have plenty to sort out before January, and this week’s transfer talk has thrown up two very different jobs, finding someone who can help Andoni Iraola now and getting an early look at a player for the future.
Monaco midfielder Lamine Camara could help with the first of those.
Speaking on Anfield Index, Daily Mail reporter Lewis Steele said his contacts at Chelsea believe Liverpool may already have reached an understanding with the Senegal international.
There’s still a fee to sort out, though, and TEAMtalk puts Monaco’s asking price at around £58.5m after Camara’s summer move to Chelsea fell through.
REUTERS/Manon Cruz
There’s also a younger name on the radar.
Get French Football News says Liverpool and Aston Villa are watching Le Havre right wing-back Djibril Ouziad, who has made nine senior appearances this season at 17.
He signed his first professional deal in September, and the French outlet expects him to move next summer.
Midfield looks like the more pressing concern.
Action Images via Reuters/Lee Smith
Liverpool won 3-1 at Crystal Palace on Sunday without Ryan Gravenberch, with 19-year-old Trey Nyoni coming off the bench.
Nyoni is earning those minutes, but the Reds are also looking at someone Iraola already knows he can throw into a Premier League game.
Liverpool ask Bournemouth about January deal for Alex Scott
REUTERS/Lee Smith
Mark Douglas reports for The i Paper that Liverpool have contacted Bournemouth and held exploratory talks over a January move for Alex Scott.
The Reds want to know what would persuade the Cherries to sell the England midfielder this winter, with discussions still at an early stage.
The price could make for a short conversation, and Douglas reports that it would take more than £100m to get Scott out in January, with his former club Bristol City due a share of any sale.
Bournemouth have won eight on the bounce in all competitions, which gives Marco Rose every reason to want his best players around for the rest of the campaign.
Scott’s contract runs until 2028, and while he turned down two offers of a new deal in the summer, the player is understood to be happy to finish the season at Bournemouth.
Alex Scott’s Bournemouth stats — 2026/27
Competition
Premier League
Europa League
Carabao Cup
Total
Chelsea have also made an enquiry and, like Liverpool, are thought to favour a January move, with Douglas also reporting a move could see him triple his £50,000-per-week wages to £150,000-per-week.
Scott was an unused substitute at Ipswich on Sunday after a thigh injury on England duty kept him out of eight Bournemouth games.
Where Scott would fit in Iraola’s Liverpool midfield
Bournemouth midfielder Alex Scott
Iraola started Scott in 34 league games for Bournemouth last season, and one number helps explain why he kept picking him.
Opta recorded 184 runs back into his defensive position, more than anyone else in the Premier League, and that’s useful for a manager who wants his midfielders to press high and still get back to help when opponents play through them.
Scott would make sense alongside Gravenberch, who could hold the middle while the Bournemouth man steps out to close down the next pass.
When Liverpool have the ball, Scott can take it with a man at his back and carry it through the first line of pressure, leaving Florian Wirtz free to wait for it further up the pitch.
REUTERS/Phil Noble
Around half of Scott’s 431 league carries last season moved Bournemouth forward enough to count as progressive.
There would still be afternoons at Anfield when the visitors sit deep and Alexis Mac Allister’s passing offers a better way in.
But when a game opens up, Scott can still hugely influence it creatively, and there is every reason to believe he could chip in enormously to Iraola's engine room.
Liverpool-Mac-Allister-Ngumoha-Nyoni-Tsimikas-Gravenberch-Koumas-Araujo