Liverpool interested in signing £22m Borussia Dortmund player

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Liverpool are looking to reignite their interest in Borussia Dortmund forward Julian Brandt.

Brandt has long been said to be on Liverpool’s radar, with Jurgen Klopp reported to have favoured signing the German over Mohamed Salah in 2017.

Brandt rejected the Reds though, going on to sign for Dortmund from Bayer Leverkusen in 2019. Having had a reasonably successful time with the Black and Yellows, The Mirror now claim that the 27-year-old is back on the agenda at Anfield.

Reportedly a ‘long-term target’ of Klopp, Brandt is also said to be of interest to Arsenal and Newcastle United.

However, with Dortmund likely to be in the Champions League into 2024, it’s claimed that they would be unlikely to sanction a sale of the Germany international in January.

Brandt back on the agenda

It’s true that Klopp is clearly a fan of Brandt. Or at least he was over six years ago.

Back in 2017, the then Leverkusen man was one of the Bundesliga’s bright young things. Already a fixture in the team and barely 21, Brandt looked to have big future.

Ultimately, it feels like he hasn’t quite managed to live up to that billing. Now 27, his time at Dortmund and certainly with the German national team hasn’t been a complete success.

Nevertheless, Brandt has markedly improved over the past 18 months. Having bagged nine Bundesliga goals last season, the £22m signing already has four this time out.

Brandt was one of Dortmund’s most influential players as they came within a whisker of winning the title last campaign.

As an elegant, technical forward you can now start to see the potential that Klopp saw all those years ago.

In terms of playing style – and this doesn’t sound like much of a compliment right now – but he’s not dissimilar to Arsenal’s Kai Havertz.

And it was Havertz who claimed that during his first season for Dortmund, Brandt was outperforming Erling Haaland. “Sancho and Haaland are not playing so badly either, but at the moment he is the best player at Dortmund,” the fellow German told Kicker back in February 2020.

We’ll take Haaland, because we think that’s a transfer that’s just about as likely to happen as this one.