Liverpool make official bid for £71m winger – report

Oli Fisher

Liverpool have made an official offer for Lille winger Nicolas Pepe with Jurgen Klopp a ‘big fan’ of the player, according to reports from France.

Various outlets have named Liverpool as one of the main suitors for the Ivorian forward, who enjoyed a stellar season in Ligue 1, scoring 22 times for the runners-up.

Lille’s valuation is understood to be around €80million (£71.2m) for Pepe and L’Equipe recently claimed that Liverpool have ‘come close’ to that figure after they ‘moved up a gear’ in the race.

More local media, however, believe Liverpool’s reported interest has been fabricated in order to drive up the winger’s price, amid talk that Manchester United and Bayern Munich are also keen on the 24-year-old.

Despite this, it has also been suggested that Klopp would consider sacrificing Mo Salah in order to land Pepe, while Lille boss Christophe Galtier has already admitted that the winger will leave this summer.

Now, French source Le10Sport claim that Liverpool have made a formal bid to Lille for Pepe in the hopes of beating competition to his signature.

They are not the only team to do so though as two other proposals have reportedly been sent to Les Dogues, with a distinct possibility one of those is from another English side.

Former Liverpool man Steve Nicol would prefer that Klopp stays clear and focuses on other targets in the coming window.


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