Liverpool are scouring Wolfsburg defender Micky van de Ven with a view to a summer transfer.
That’s according to journalist Christian Falk. Writing for CaughtOffside yesterday, Falk gave an update on the future of the 21-year-old centre-back.
“The player [Van de Ven] is talented and very fast for a centre-back – 35.9km per hour; that’s really quick for such a player,” explained the journalist. “He has a contract until 2027 and no release clause but Wolfsburg would be prepared to talk if they received an offer of €30m [£26m].
“The player himself has said he has no problem with staying another year but has also mentioned he’s open for a switch to Spain and the Premier League. So he’s already thinking about his future. Many clubs are scouting him at the moment, it’s a really long list; Liverpool, Manchester City, Arsenal, Barcelona, Inter Milan, Juventus, Roma, AC Milan… so you see, he’s a very attractive option.
“It’s not the case that he feels he has to leave this summer. But I think if he keeps up the quality of his performances this season, next summer one of these clubs will be prepared to pay what Wolfsburg are looking for.”
Liverpool pondering the centre-back market
Van de Ven is the latest in a growing line of young centre-backs to be linked with a move to Liverpool this summer. It seems that the Reds are planning for the possible departure of Joel Matip.
Matip has been mooted to be on the market for between £10m and £15m. With the top end of that valuation going some way to covering the money needed for Van de Ven, that would be good business.
The problem is that at thirty-two, Matip is highly unlikely to pull in that kind of fee. It’s much more possible that Liverpool are left with somewhere between £5m and £10m to sell the Cameroonian.
It all helps though, and Van de Ven is by far cheaper than someone like reported ‘gold standard’ target Josko Gvardiol. Anything would be more than Liverpool will get should they decide to hold onto Matip for the last year of his conract.
But unless Big Joel leaves, we can’t see another centre-back being brought in. Liverpool need to prioritise their midfield this summer and there’s no need to stock-pile options if everyone remains at the club.
It shouldn’t be forgotten that there are high hopes for Sepp van den Berg, who was doing well before injury ruined his season at Schalke. Maybe only once Jurgen Klopp has taken a look over everyone in pre-season will we get a feel for the plan. Should the plan be to enter the market though, Van de Ven sounds like an interesting option.