Liverpool are keeping a close eye on the situation of Lyon forward Memphis Depay, whose contract in France is set to expire at the end of the season.
The Dutchman, who has racked up 14 goals and nine assists for Lyon this season, has been heavily linked with a move to Barcelona, who pushed to sign him last summer and remain keen to reunite him with manager Ronald Koeman.
Barcelona are thought to have other attacking priorities, namely Borussia Dortmund's Erling Haaland and Manchester City's Sergio Aguero, so they are yet to strike a deal for Depay, and the Spanish press believe that Liverpool are keen to take advantage of that.
Firstly, we had a report from Marca, who state that both Liverpool and Juventus have already lodged formal offers with the 27-year-old.
It's believed that Depay will consider each and every offer he receives, although his preference is to join Barcelona, meaning he will likely hold off on making a decision until he works out whether the Spanish side are actually going to try sign him.
That was later backed up by AS. The belief is that Liverpool want a new forward but are not prepared to get lost in the bidding wars for Haaland or Paris Saint-Germain's Kylian Mbappe, and that's why Depay has entered their radar.
Liverpool are excited about the prospect of signing someone like Depay on a free transfer and believe that his wage demands would fall into their budget - especially if fringe forwards like Xherdan Shaqiri, Takumi Minamino and even Divock Origi are sold this summer.
Whether Depay would actually be interested in Liverpool is unclear. Barring a surprise sale, Liverpool's front three is pretty set, so Depay would likely have to accept a role as a rotation player, and it's fairly tough to see him taking that at this point in his career.
Weirdly, the report describes Depay as an 'undiscovered talent', which is a strange thing to say about a player that everyone has known about for six or seven years now, but the sentiment is clear: Liverpool don't want a blockbuster name and are prepared to settle for a budget alternative, of which Depay could be one of the best around.
Manager Jurgen Klopp is keen to bolster his attacking options, having lost faith in a lot of his fringe players in the position. He has been forced to play Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino into the ground, particularly with Diogo Jota missing around three months with a knee injury.
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Source : 90min