‘Things are moving’: Liverpool have 24 hours left to stand best chance of signing 22-year-old – journalist

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Liverpool are moving ahead with their bid to sign Dominik Szoboszlai, but may not be in time to trigger his release clause.

That’s according to journalist Mark McAdam. Speaking on Sky Sports News today, McAdam gave an update on Liverpool’s interest in the RB Leipzig midfielder.

“He currently has a 70 million euro release clause, which expires tomorrow” began the journalist. “So, if Liverpool are interested in the midfielder, they’re going to have to act quickly. We know he’s been on their radar for some time, he fits the type of profile of midfielders they’re looking to bring into the football club, and we know that Liverpool have met his representatives as well.”

On whether he expects the Reds to move in on Szoboszlai tomorrow, McAdam suggested that it may not quite happen so fast.

“Things are moving, probably not as quickly as the club needs to act,” he said. “Of course the release clause doesn’t mean that they can’t sign him and that it couldn’t be re-negotiated, but it just gives them a little bit more of a flexibly as to this is what you pay and you get the player or not, there’s no negotiation.

“Whereas, obviously, when the release clause expires, they’ll then have to sit down with RB Leipzig, and perhaps their hand – should Liverpool decide to go in for the player – might be slightly strengthened.”

Time ticking on Szoboszlai release clause

As things stand, we wouldn’t expect Liverpool to trigger Szoboszlai’s release clause. The £60m fee doesn’t look too bad and the Reds have seemingly been tracking the Hungarian for some time. But it just doesn’t feel like a very Liverpool thing to do.

They usually push as hard as possible to find the best deal that they can. It’s been claimed that Liverpool feel the set price-tag is on the high side. As a result, there should be very little expectation of them paying it.

Instead, the Reds will likely wait for the clause to expire, and come in with a lower offer.

As McAdam points out, Leipzig are then in a position to ask for what they want. But anything higher than £60m would just seem ludicrous.

Of course, they don’t have to sell Szoboszlai. If no one is willing to meet their valuation beyond tomorrow, they won’t sell him.

But the German side will no doubt be mindful that the 22-year-old’s contract has just two years to run. Hold onto him for another year and his value will start to quickly decrease. As one of the savviest clubs around, Leipzig will be fully aware of that.

Some will fume if Liverpool let the deadline for the release clause pass tomorrow. But as usual in transfer negotiations, we’ll trust that the Reds know what they’re doing.