Liverpool are open to swapping Naby Keita for Juventus midfielder Adrien Rabiot this summer.
That’s according to Calciomercatoweb, who claim that Liverpool and Juventus are looking into an ‘equal exchange’ for the two players.
It’s claimed that as both are 27-years-old and valued at around £17m, they could ‘change shirts.’
Both clubs are said to keen to refresh their midfield. With the two players also having a year left on their respective deals, a swap could reportedly happen.
Rabiot not an improvement on Keita
The need for an extra midfielder for Liverpool this summer is based largely on the fact that an extra body is needed.
Last season saw Jurgen Klopp chopping and changing his midfield three mainly because of short-term injury issues.
The manager could do with an extra player to count on who can also be a starter in the team more often than not. As Keita is currently fourth choice, and banging on the door for third-choice, this rumour doesn’t make sense.
Rabiot, although a different type of midfielder, is arguably a drop-off from Liverpool’s number 8. A swap deal of this nature wouldn’t improve on what Klopp already has.
Should Rabiot be considered to supplement Klopp’s current options, that’s a different story. The France international could be a smart addition based on his low asking price. He has his qualities and has been labelled as being ‘fantastic’ by Juve legend Gianluigi Buffon in Corriere dello Sport via Sportstar.
But as an alternative to Keita? From our point of view, that doesn’t have any merit.
Swap deals are also notoriously difficult to negotiate, too. Liverpool are unlikely to want to get dragged into a complicated negotiation of this kind when there are more pressing matters to attend to.
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