Liverpool boss Arne Slot. (Photo by Paul ELLIS / AFP via Getty Images)placeholder image
Liverpool boss Arne Slot. (Photo by Paul ELLIS / AFP via Getty Images) | AFP via Getty Images
Liverpool have been hoovering up some of Europe’s finest young players recently, and they have already identified their next target.
Liverpool spent most of last summer rebuilding a squad that had been together for sometime with some of Europe’s most promising youngsters.
A record spend was made to secure the services of players like Hugo Ekitike, Florian Wirtz, Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez as Arne Slot stamped his authority on a new-look team. The old guard of Andy Robertson, Virgil van Dijk, Mohamed Salah and Alisson are still around, although reports suggest that the veteran quartet could also be split up in the summer with Salah being courted by Saudi Arabia once again.
Liverpool eye summer striker move
Richard Hughes will need to address the lack of width and attacking flair as well as identifying a natural number six and a senior centre-half to replace Ibrahima Konate if, as expected, he leaves Anfield at the end of his contract. What might come as a surprise with Ekitike and Alexander Isak to count on, is that the Reds recruitment chief has been linked with a Premier League striker who won’t come cheap.
According to Caught Offside, Liverpool are keeping keeping tabs on one of the league’s most exciting forwards, with Bournemouth forward Eli Junior Kroupi reported as being a possible summer transfer option, sources close to the agents industry have informed the media outlet.
It is believed that the Cherries’ hierarchy feel that the teenager could surpass the fee of Antoine Semenyo and become the clubs first-ever £70-80 million sale, a price tag that they seen as befitting for a player of Kroupi’s talent, age and profile given the lack of similar players on the market at this moment in time. Liverpool aren’t the only big club interested though with Real Madrid and Chelsea also listed as potential suitors.
Just how good is Eli Junior Kroupi?
Kroupi has been highly rated for some time and, despite still being in his teenage years, is already close to having 100 senior games under his belt. A figure he should reach by the end of this season. At Lorient, he scored 28 goals in 64 appearances and he has eight in 23 for Bournemouth. To get double figures in his first Premier League season for a mid-table side would be a huge achievement.
Former Chelsea player and Lorient team-mate Tiemoue Bakayoko said of Kroupi’s style of play and emergence as a future star, via the Premier League’s official website: “He’s a phenomenon. He reminds me a little of [Kylian] Mbappe in the maturity of his game.”
Capped at Under-21 level, he is an outside bet to make France’s World Cup squad, however, with comparisons to Sergio Agüero too in terms of his penchant for first-time finish goals, it won’t be long until he makes the step up and plays alongside Mbappe at senior level. If Liverpool get their way, this will be for his country, rather than for his club too.
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