Liverpool prepared to meet valuation for £38m target who could be a long-term asset
Liverpool are reportedly willing to meet OGC Nice’s valuation of Khephren Thuram to finally bring the central midfielder to Anfield after tracking the player for over a year.
Thuram has long been the subject of attention from Liverpool and the latest buzz out of Nice suggests that a bid from Liverpool with match the club’s valuation of the France Under 23 midfielder.
Khephren Thuram has Liverpool convinced
He spent over three weeks sidelined with a knee injury last December but was otherwise a consistent member of the matchday squad for Nice across their Ligue 1 campaign.
Thuram will soon enter the last year of his contract with Nice and it seems that the French outfit is resigned to losing the promising talent to a bigger club.
He looks set to be part of the France team at the Paris Olympics later this summer but it appears that Liverpool are moving to secure his signature sooner rather than later with other clubs also expressing an interest in signing the son of World Cup winner Lilian Thuram.
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The belief at Liverpool is that Thuram would be a fit replacement for Thiago Alcantara, who has left Anfield after his contract ran its course.
Thuram was released by AS Monaco as a teenager but he showed resilience and found a home at Nice where he has built himself into a player that is attracting interest from heavyweight clubs.
It was reported last summer that Thuram had a £39m release clause in his contract but a year closer to the end of his deal with Nice it is quite likely that the club would accept Liverpool’s reputed £38m offer.
Thuram is a dynamo when Nice lose the ball and often gobbles up space and gets his team back onto the attack in smooth transitions and it is easy to see why Arne Slot would love to have a player of his qualities at his disposal. He doesn’t quite have the same range of passing ability as Thiago but is an intelligent and capable passer of the ball who has a great understanding of when to move it forward into the final third and when to play it safe.
He usually plays in the heart of midfield for Nice but is also comfortable playing on the left in a 4-3-3 formation.
Thuram would likely find himself competing with Alexis Mac Allister for game time but with Liverpool back in the Champions League next term he would not go unutilised.