Latest Liverpool transfer news as the Reds look at wrapping up their summer business
Liverpool manager Arne Slot
Liverpool manager Arne Slot(Image: Getty Images)
Liverpool could complete at least three more transfers before the window closes at the start of next month. Arne Slot's side have been active in the summer market, spending more than £250million on seven new players.
Jeremie Frimpong, Milos Kerkez, Florian Wirtz, Freddie Woodman, Giorgi Mamardashvili, Armin Pecsi and Hugo Ekitike have arrived through the Anfield doors this summer.
Meanwhile, the Reds have recouped in excess of £150m on Trent Alexander-Arnold, Caoimhin Kelleher, Jarell Quansah, Nat Phillips, Luis Diaz, Tyler Morton and Darwin Nunez.
Apart from a potential departure for Harvey Elliott, Liverpool are not expected to sanction many other major departures. There is a different picture when it comes to the incoming front, however.
Indeed, the Reds are targeting two new centre-backs. The ECHO understands Liverpool are set to ramp up their interest in Parma's Giovanni Leoni, while the club have also opened talks with Crystal Palace over a potential deal for Marc Guehi.
Liverpool do not see Leoni and Guehi as alternative options and according to Fabrizio Romano, the Reds have been 'working on' both deals for weeks.
Leoni, a 18-year-old central defender from Parma, is seen as a top talent for the future, while Guehi, Crystal Palace's FA Cup and Community Shield winning captain, is viewed as a 'big opportunity', he claims.
The Reds are looking to strengthen their defence with Quansah departing for Bayer Leverkusen earlier this summer and Joe Gomez once again struggling to remain fit.
Ibrahima Konate and Virgil van Dijk are Liverpool's only two fit senior centre-backs available right now and Slot is keen to get more strength in depth in that position ahead of the new Premier League season.
Elsewhere, Liverpool continue to be linked with a blockbuster move for Newcastle United forward Alexander Isak. The Reds made a first official bid - claimed to be worth £110million flat - for the Sweden international earlier this month, but the offer was rejected by Newcastle.
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While the ECHO reported that Liverpool have no plans to submit a second proposal - due to the nature of Newcastle's response to the first offer - a move could still happen this summer.
Isak, meanwhile, is adamant he will never represent Newcastle again, as he is said to be furious over a 'broken contract promise' that led him to decide that last season would be his final one at St James' Park.
The ex-Real Sociedad front man is said to have told Eddie Howe, two weeks before the end of last season, of his desire to leave and he then doubled down on that call after their final day defeat to Everton.
Newcastle face Aston Villa in their Premier League curtain-raiser on Saturday and Howe has made it clear that he cannot pick Isak, as things stand, for that fixture.
"For me, I'm just trying to manage the situation and manage the team, most importantly manage the group of players that I'm working with day to day, that I love coaching and helping," Howe said. "We're focusing on Aston Villa. Everything else, to a degree, from my perspective is not in my control, so it’s not my focus."
When asked about whether he believed he could convince Isak to stay, Howe said: "If it was that easy, I'd have done it yesterday."