Perr Schuurs must be special if Liverpool transfer reports are accurate

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Perr Schuurs must be a very special player if reports linking with a transfer to Liverpool are accurate. The 20-year-old could be on his way to Anfield.

Corriere dello Sport carry the story. They say Liverpool have offered £27m to secure a transfer for Perr Schuurs. Negotiations are firmly underway and they want him in January.

The need to bring in a centre-half has increased massively, they say, after injuries to Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez.

Now, this is an Italian outlet claiming an English club wants a Dutch player, from a Dutch side. That isn’t the strongest link and source in the world.

Still, Schuurs is a player that every club will have eyes on – we can believe that sources in Italy have their finger on the pulse and that a move from any club would become public knowledge.

So if Liverpool truly have made a transfer offer for Schuurs, we feel it’s a sign that he’s a very special player.

Future proof

Schuurs is only 20 and has under a season of first-team top-flight football under his belt. He managed 17 appearances last season but the Eredivise was cut short.

Thus we don’t know too much about him. He’s good, we do know that much, but a lot of his game is unproven. It makes him a risk.

In fact, we recently wrote that £27m in January would come too soon. If Liverpool have offered that already, then it’s a sign they know the player well.

Their scouts will have watched him for some time, after all. Liverpool picked up Ki-Jana Hoever and Sepp van den Berg from the Netherlands, so we know they’ve scouted young, Dutch defenders.

And it’s impossible that Schuurs didn’t come up in that search – he’s a prospect at Ajax and you’ll watch them first and foremost.

Still, it’s a risk. Schuurs is young and inexperienced – not the kind of player you’d usually sign to solve a short-term injury crisis. Unless, of course, he’s talented enough that signing him is ‘bigger’ than the injury crisis.

If Liverpool believe they need a centre-half in January, they’re likely bringing plans forward. It suggests they need someone now, yet they’re apparently still going with a future-proof signing.

We can only make sense of that if they think Schuurs is so great that his potential far outweighs the benefits of a short-term solution. It’s a sign that he’s a very special player, then – assuming the report is accurate.