As Liverpool exited the Champions League on Wednesday night, their hopes of a trophy this season were extinguished.
There’s still a top-four place to fight for, but otherwise the season is pretty much done for the Reds. And what a disappointing one it’s been.
Jurgen Klopp has plenty to do to ensure next campaign doesn’t end in earnest quite so soon. Top of that to-do list is to sign some quality midfielders. To that end, the Liverpool Echo claim that Jurgen and his team have drawn up an ‘unusually long’ list of names. Here’s a look at who might be on that list.
The top targets
Throughout Liverpool’s search for a midfielder, three names have been repeated over and over again: Jude Bellingham, Mason Mount and Matheus Nunes.
Bellingham is clearly the Reds’ No.1 target. They wouldn’t have put so much time into convincing him why they should be the lucky club to spend £110m on him otherwise.
Mount is one who appears to be getting more realistic by the day, while Nunes is another frequently mentioned by plenty of reliable sources.
The back-up plan’s
There’s still a reasonable possibility that Liverpool will miss out on signing Bellingham. They may even lose out on Mount given the competition for him.
So, as any recruitment team worth their salt does, the Reds will have a back-up plan. These appear to include the likes of Premier League duo Declan Rice and Moises Caicedo.
Both have had a lot of noise made over them in regards to a move away from their respective clubs. Rice in particular looks set to cost a bomb though, so don’t bank on a move for him unless the Jude deal goes south.
Ryan Gravenberch is another who looks set to be on the market. The Bayern Munich man would perhaps cost a little less than other targets and looks good as a cheaper option.
The outside shots
In a market as crowded as this year’s looks set to be, Liverpool might yet have to get a little creative in their thinking.
You could hardly call the signing of a World Cup winner ‘out of the box thinking,’ but going for Alexis Mac Allister would be an interesting move nonetheless.
Then there’s Florentino Luis. A player almost written off by Benfica just a year ago, the 23-year-old has reportedly very much played his way onto Liverpool’s radar.
Others have been mentioned plenty of times along the way. The likes of Ruben Neves, Gavi, Luka Sucic, Kephren Thuram and more could well be considered, too. But when all is said and done, we expect Liverpool’s midfield signings this summer to be two or three from this eight. Watch this space.