Liverpool ‘shortlist four alternatives’ including Everton star as Man City threaten Semenyo hijack

Liverpool have shortlisted four alternatives in case they fail in their efforts to sign Antoine Semenyo in January, according to reports.

The Reds have had a nightmare season so far with Liverpool currently eighth in the Premier League table after winning just four of their last 13 matches in all competitions.

Liverpool have also dropped down to 13th in the Champions League standings after their unexpected 4-1 defeat at home to PSV Eindhoven last week.

Despite spending huge sums of money in the summer on new players, there are rumours that Liverpool are set to invest again in the winter transfer market.

One player who seemed likely to sign was Bournemouth winger Semenyo with a report revealing last month that the Ghana international has a £65m release clause in his deal on the South Coast.

Given Liverpool’s poor start to the season, the Reds could now miss out on a deal with news coming last week that second-placed Man City could now hijack a deal, according to the I Paper.

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It is understood that the Reds could ‘face competition from Manchester City’ with Liverpool looking at Semenyo to provide competition for Mohamed Salah, who leavs for the Africa Cup of Nations later this month.

And now Caught Offside have claimed that Liverpool have ‘shortlisted four alternatives’ with Man City ‘on the brink of hijacking’ a deal for Semenyo.

Liverpool’s recruitment team ‘has been forced into an urgent reassessment of their winter strategy’ with their ‘Plan B transfer framework’ now ‘activated’ amid Man City interest in Semenyo.

Juventus’ Kenan Yildiz, Real Madrid’s Rodrygo, Everton’s Iliman Ndiaye and Bayern Munich’s Michael Olise are the four names on their shortlist of alternatives.

Ndiaye is seen as ‘perhaps the most realistic short-term solution’ but ‘the cross-city rivalry between Liverpool and Everton makes any approach politically and logistically difficult.’

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Transfer expert Fabrizio Romano insists that Liverpool are now thinking about adding at least one player when the January transfer window opens.

Speaking last week, Romano said on the Here We Go Podcast: “I think it’s a possibility [that Liverpool make a signing in January].

“It’s something that, maybe if you ask me this question in September or early October, the answer was probably Liverpool didn’t want to do anything else because they were very happy with their summer transfer window. They invested a lot of money.

“So Liverpool were really excited to see this team performing despite a difficult start in terms of long term.

“Now obviously is already more than three months into the season. Liverpool are doing very badly and so they are considering the possibility of entering into the January transfer window with some sort of activity.

“We will see about the positions because this could depend on the next weeks. So nothing will be decided now, today, tomorrow or next week. It might take some time, some weeks, to decide maybe which position they want to cover.”

Romano concluded: “But Liverpool start considering internally the possibility to add maybe one player in the January transfer window and again, based on injuries, based on opportunities, based on the market, we will see what they want to do.”