‘The deal is off’ – Liverpool pull plug on huge winger deal with transfer now ‘dead in the water’
Liverpool have decided not to make another attempt to sign Yankuba Minteh from Brighton with the deal now “dead in the water”, according to one journalist.
Widespread reports on Thursday revealed that Liverpool are closing in on the signing of Bradley Barcola after the Reds agreed a deal in principle with Paris Saint-Germain for the France international.
With Cody Gakpo’s future up in the air, Liverpool are still looking for another winger too with Brighton’s Minteh and Crystal Palace’s Ismaila Sarr two of their main reported targets in recent days.
Liverpool have made two bids for Minteh but it was reported that the Reds were unwilling to go anywhere near Brighton’s new valuation of £80m.
There had been hints from Brighton head coach Fabian Hurzeler that a move could still happen for Minteh before the transfer deadline.
Commenting on Liverpool’s reported interest, Hurzeler said: “From my perspective, Minteh, he’s a Brighton player; he needs to commit to this club.
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“Because he knows that these rumours only come because he benefits from everything here.
“From how he’s been worked with, how he’s been protected from everyone, how he’s been developed. So I think that’s also important for him.
“Then in the end, we all know, everyone knows, how the football business works. Let’s see the ideas from Liverpool.
“We have a clear idea how we want to go forward, but we have a lot of things in our hands regarding this player.
“But in the end, there’s Tony [Bloom, owner], there’s Paul [Barber, CEO], together with them we try to make the right decision.”
Minteh to Liverpool is now completely ‘dead in the water’
But Football Insider journalist Pete O’Rourke has revealed that a deal is now “dead in the water” with Liverpool pulling out of a deal completely.
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O’Rourke explained on the Football Insider podcast: “No, I think that deal for Liverpool to sign Yankuba Minteh is dead in the water now.
“Obviously Liverpool made a couple of bids. The first one was worth £50million, rejected, then it went up to £60million, and that offer was rejected as well.
“Brighton were holding out for a fee of 80 million pounds which Liverpool weren’t keen on meeting.
“Also, you had the extra complication of Minteh being out injured. He underwent surgery on his ankle earlier this month, and is probably going to be out for a couple of months.
“So that raised issues at Liverpool as well and they have now decided to walk away from their pursuit of Minteh. The deal is off.”
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