Liverpool ‘closing’ transfer ‘bomb’ as Slot selects first signing ahead of ‘imminent departure’
Liverpool are closing in on a deal to sign Inter Milan midfielder Nicolo Barella ahead of the summer transfer window, according to reports.
The Reds are set for major changes in the summer with Jurgen Klopp announcing that he will leave Anfield at the end of the season to take a break from football.
Michael Edwards has returned to the Premier League side as FSG’s CEO of football, while Bournemouth’s Richard Hughes has become the new sporting director.
And there are widespread reports that Feyenoord boss Arne Slot will now be appointed the new head coach once Klopp departs with the Dutchman presumably keen to give Edwards and Hughes his ideas on the type of players he wants to bring into the club over the summer.
A midfielder seems to be one of their key priorities in the summer with Klopp hastily rebuilding the middle of his team last summer following the departures of Fabinho and Jordan Henderson to Saudi Arabia.
And now Spanish publication Fichajes insists that Liverpool are ‘closing the signing’ of Inter Milan midfielder Barella this summer in a transfer ‘bomb’ that will rock the summer market.
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It is said that the signing of the Italy international will ‘complete the midfield rebuild that the team has been seeking for some time’ with the ‘imminent departure’ of Thiago Alcantara.
Liverpool will be hoping that Barella can create a ‘dynamic duo’ in midfield with Argentina international Alexis Mac Allister with the Italian set to ‘occupy a key place’ in Slot’s new-look Reds side.
The Merseysiders are now ‘determined to make the dream of having Barella in their ranks come true’ after being previously linked to the Inter Milan midfielder in the past.
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Barella could be Slot’s first signing at the club with the Italian expected to ‘easily adapt to the 4-2-3-1 formation’ that the Dutchman prefers.
Former Inter Milan midfielder Wesley Sneijder reckons Slot will have to be careful to not bring in “too many Dutchmen” to Liverpool when he arrives at Anfield.
Sneijder gives Slot advice: ‘You shouldn’t start attracting too many Dutch people’
“I would be careful with that, with getting too many Dutchmen,” Sneijder told Veronica Offside.
“I experienced that at Madrid. When I came, only Ruud van Nistelrooy, Royston Drenthe and Arjen Robben were there. And the following year Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Rafael van der Vaart joined them.
“If the four of us play football somewhere, we’re not going to talk Spanish to each other, you keep talking in your mother tongue anyway. You shouldn’t start attracting too many Dutch people to you.”
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