Manchester City set to clear transfer path for Liverpool to pick up sloppy seconds

Manchester City have been linked with making a move for Juventus full-back Andrea Cambiaso for months – but could now leave him to one side for Liverpool to pinch instead.

Italy international Cambiaso is a Football Manager wet dream thanks to his ability to play in multiple roles having been fielded in central midfield and on both flanks at full-back and wing-back.

You can see how that would appeal to both Man City and Liverpool, given Pep Guardiola’s penchant for inverted full-backs and Liverpool’s pretty desperate need to add new recruits at both left-back and right-back.

Trent Alexander Arnold’s entirely reasonable decision to leave a club where he has already won basically everything there is to win to pursue a new career opportunity at Real Madrid will leave Liverpool with the not-quite there yet Conor Bradley as their only out-and-out option to play behind Mo Salah on the right flank.

Andy Robertson’s drop in form and Kostas Tsimikas’ ongoing battle to rise beyond the level of ‘yeah, fine’ meanwhile makes left-back an obvious area to target upgrades this summer.

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In any case, Foot Mercato’s Santi Aouna claims that City are now looking at alternative options at right-back, with Flamengo’s Wesley Franca said to be their number one target.

Cambiaso’s Juve teammate Nicolo Savono is also said to have been lined up with personal terms provisionally agreed, while Newcastle’s Tino Livramento is also claimed to be on City’s shortlist.

Now, none of that would actually remove Cambiaso from the conversation on its own, given he has spent much of this season playing on the left for Juventus.

But if indeed City were considering Cambiaso as a proper replacement for Kyle Walker, then claims they have now moved on from pursuing him could come as welcome news to Liverpool – again, if indeed their interest were actually genuine.

The 25 year old established himself in Serie A after emerging through the youth ranks at Genoa, finally making his first appearance in the top flight in 2021/22 after a series of loan moves to Series D, C and B.

Juventus moved to sign Cambiaso in summer 2022 before immediately loaning him to Bologna, and he has been a regular for the Old Lady for the past two years.

Cambiaso earned his first Italy call-ups in 2023 and featured in their disappointing showing at Euro 2024.