Liverpool’s bid to sign Borussia Monchengladbach midfielder Manu Kone may be about to get an almighty shot in the arm.
The Reds have reportedly identified Kone as one of the options for their midfield rebuild this summer. As per Fabrizio Romano yesterday, Liverpool have already begun talks with Gladbach over the transfer of the 22-year-old. Romano claims that they could even sign him for as little as £35m.
With a relatively low transfer fee and a selling club in need of funds, Liverpool already looked pretty good for this one. But as per Kicker today, they may now be in an even stronger position.
That’s because the son of the Reds’ new sporting director – Jorg Schmadtke – is reportedly set to take up the same position at Gladbach. That’s right, Nils Schmadtke is claimed to be poised to become second-in-command of transfers at Borussia Park.
Schmadtke Jnr won’t be the top dog in Gladbach, that will be Roland Virkus, the manager director for sport. But with Nils on the staff as his father tries to hammer out a deal for Kone, you can’t imagine it’ll harm Liverpool’s chances one bit.
Liverpool handed Kone boost
The more we think about it, the more it seems to make sense that Liverpool will sign Kone this summer. He just ticks a lot of the boxes they look for.
Young, but not too young: tick. Good experience of a top European league: tick. Perfectly suited in terms of profile and playing style: tick. Price-tag: tick, tick, tick.
Throw Schmadtke and now Schmadtke Jnr into the mix and it feels likely that we’ll be seeing Kone at Anfield next season.
Of course, just because something seems likely in football though, it doesn’t mean it will happen. For the price Kone is being touted around at, plenty of other clubs will no doubt be interested, too.
There’s a number of top sides in need of midfield additions at the moment. With other options being extortionately priced on the market, it’s rare to find one like Kone who could even be under-valued.
Liverpool will be wary of that, and should Schmadtke come in at Gladbach, they won’t expect any favours.
Having said that, it feels like an almighty slice of luck that the Reds could soon effectively have someone on the inside here. There’s now no excuses that, if they want him enough, Kone shouldn’t become a Liverpool player.
