Liverpool now ‘favourites’ to land former Man City star as Reds ‘prepare aggressive strategy’

Liverpool are now ‘favourites’ to land former Man City striker Julian Alvarez from Atletico Madrid next summer, according to reports.

The Reds have made a perfect start to the new Premier League season with the defending champions gaining five wins from five to lead the standings by five points.

Arne Slot won the Premier League title in his first campaign at Anfield and was rewarded with eight new signings, including the huge investments of Alexander Isak, Hugo Ekitike and Florian Wirtz.

The options Liverpool have in attack this season are now unrivalled with Slot having Isak, Mohamed Salah, Federico Chiesa, Cody Gakpo, Ekitike and Rio Ngumoha to choose from.

But, after allowing Darwin Nunez and Luis Diaz to move on over the summer, and Chiesa’s future being up in the air, they are still looking to improve their forward line ahead of 2026.

And Spanish website Fichajes insists that Liverpool are the ‘favourites to close the signing’ of Atletico Madrid forward Alvarez, who scored 17 goals in La Liga last term.

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Barcelona ‘dream of having his goal-scoring instinct and ability to decide matches’ but ‘the club that appears best positioned is Liverpool’.

The Premier League champions see Alvarez ‘as the ideal player to bolster its attack for the immediate future’ and the player’s entourage ‘doesn’t rule out a multi-million-dollar transfer’.

Barcelona have ‘already begun exploratory contacts to test the Argentine’ while Liverpool are ‘preparing an aggressive strategy’ with the Reds viewing the signing Alvarez is ‘a unique opportunity and aren’t willing to let a striker with such impact slip away.’

Liverpool’s start to the season is “ominous” for their rivals, according to former Manchester United defender Gary Neville, after the Reds won their first five matches without playing at their best.

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Neville told Sky Sports: “Ominous in the fact that I think at times they’re hanging on by the skin of the teeth.

“Not necessarily [against Everton], but that they’ve scored goals late on. And ominous in the fact that I don’t think they’re at their best.

“Ominous in the fact that I don’t think they’ve even settled on their best team yet and they’ve not got the best team out on the pitch.”

On their summer investment, Neville added: “The new players, Wirtz, Isak, you know, you’ve got 250 million quid, a quarter of a billion pounds worth of players there that haven’t even got to a point whereby they’re either playing together, or at their best, or anything like in the rhythm and the talent and potential that we know they can produce.”

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