Chelsea was keen to snap up Hugo Ekitike from Eintracht Frankfurt, but the player's valuation has supposedly seen the move stall, with Liverpool also having been linked with the 22-year-old.
Frankfurt sold Omar Marmoush in January and has a track record of getting strong prices for its top talents, with Ekitike very much falling into that category. And this summer, it has set the going rate at $113 million (£84 million) for the Frenchman.
Formerly of PSG, Ekitike scored 22 goals and assisted another 12 in all competitions last season. He notched 23 goal contributions in 33 Bundesliga games and could take the next step in his career sooner rather than later.
However, according to Sky Germany, Chelsea is unwilling to meet the asking price for Ekitike, believing that it is too extortionate, not least because it has already snapped up Liam Delap as another striker option from Ipswich Town.
Whether Liverpool would seriously move for Ekitike remains to be seen, but the Reds could turn to signing a number nine after concluding deals for Florian Wirtz and Milos Kerkez. Frankfurt, though, would almost certainly have to lower its demands.
Darwin Nunez has drawn interest from Saudi Arabia while Federico Chiesa has been linked with a return to Italy, though given how little the latter played, bringing in a replacement for the winger would not necessarily be required.
Hugo Ekitike
Hugo Ekitike isn't heading to Chelsea after all (Image: Photo by Alex Grimm/Getty Images)
Elsewhere, Harvey Elliott has hinted that he could move on too, with the potential for plenty of changes in the Liverpool roster. He was speaking ahead of traveling to Slovakia for the U21 European Championship with England.
"It's just a situation that me and the team have to have a conversation about because I'm coming into an age now where I'm 22, I'm going to be 23 next season," Elliott said, via BBC Sport, when asked if he is considering leaving Liverpool.
"I don't really want to be wasting years on my career because it's a short career. You don't know what's going to happen.
"I need to reflect. I need to see if I'm content in doing what I'm doing and how I can improve as a player because that's the most important thing."
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Arne Slot didn't rotate that much during his first season at the helm, meaning the likes of Elliott, Nunez and Chiesa could all be open to leaving in search of more game time.
But while Liverpool didn't have too many injuries as it won the Premier League title, it won't want to leave itself short of numbers in crucial areas. It would only have taken one midfield injury and Elliott would have started much more than just twice in the top flight (against Chelsea and Brighton).
Liverpool.com says: Ekitike is a good player but no one should be paying more than $100M for him. He wouldn't arrive at Liverpool as a definite starter, especially once Wirtz comes to Merseyside, so the price would have to be considerably lower.