Liverpool are interested in Crystal Palace’s Cheick Doucoure as they consider potential midfield options.
The 23-year-old impressed at Selhurst Park last season after moving to the Premier League from Lens last summer in a deal worth up to £26million ($33.6m) including add-ons.
Palace will only entertain a significant sum due to Doucoure’s importance and may look at Southampton’s £50m valuation of Romeo Lavia as guidance. The midfielder, who made 34 Premier League appearances after arriving, was named fans’ player of the season for 2022-23.
Palace have signed Colombia international Jefferson Lerma on a free transfer from Bournemouth this summer but would need to go into the market to sign a replacement for Doucoure if they did sanction the Mali international’s departure.
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Liverpool have been forced into a midfield rethink following advanced interest in Fabinho and Jordan Henderson from Saudi Arabia.
Brazil international Fabinho was left out of the Liverpool squad which travelled to Germany as part of their pre-season plans amid a £40m bid from Al Ittihad, while club captain Henderson did make the trip. Discussions over Fabinho’s move have been focused on the structure of the payments with that transfer expected to go through.
Henderson, meanwhile, has verbally agreed a lucrative three-year contract with Steven Gerrard’s Al Ettifaq worth close to £700,000 per week but there is yet to be an agreement between the clubs. Senior Anfield figures have dismissed suggestions that Henderson, who has two years remaining on his current deal, could either be granted a free transfer or sold for a fee as low as £10m — Liverpool value Henderson at around £20m.
The Anfield club are considering a number of options including Southampton’s Lavia, Manchester City’s Kalvin Phillips, Bayern Munich’s Ryan Gravenberch Fiorentina’s Sofyan Amrabat and Aston Villa’s Boubacar Kamara, with Doucoure also on the list.
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(Photo: Julian Finney/Getty Images)
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