‘Going nowhere’… Fabrizio Romano says Liverpool will not be able to sign £60m player this month

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With the January transfer window now halfway to closing, Liverpool look unlikely to do any business.

The Reds have been linked with a fair few players over the course of the month so far. As rumours over Caoimhin Kelleher’s future continue to swirl, Sunderland goalkeeper Anthony Patterson is reportedly the latest on their radar.

Another linked fairly heavily over the past few days has been Crystal Palace winger Michael Olise.

After claims that Liverpool were considering triggering the 22-year-old’s £60m release clause in the summer, king of transfers Fabrizio Romano has now weighed in via KICK.

“Olise to Liverpool?” began the journalist, after being asked to comment on the situation by fans.

“Guys, Olise is going nowhere in January. This is the feeling at least today. In the summer, it could be different it could be different because he has a release clause. So, in that case, the story could be different for Olise.”

Olise to wait until summer

To be fair, the rumours surrounding Olise and Liverpool had always appeared to be with the summer in mind anyway.

Given the high nature of his release clause, we’d also be a little sceptical about whether Palace will recoup the full amount of that.

Certainly, if Liverpool are the ones who end up snatching him from Selhurst Park, they’ll try and negotiate that down.

As we saw in the summer though, Jorg Schmadtke does like a mandatory transfer clause. The Reds sporting director triggered them to sign both Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai.

These fees are usually needed to be paid up-front in one instalment, though. Consequently, the club may prefer to come to a different agreement with Palace.

One thing’s for sure though, Liverpool are unlikely to have a free run at Olise. He’s having a good season for the Eagles and is still only 22.

As one of those rare things – a top, left-footed right winger – plenty of Europe’s heavyweights will have their eye on Olise.

From a Liverpool point of view, you can see the thinking. The France U21 star could be under consideration to be the long-term heir to Mohamed Salah’s throne. Olise is well worth watching over the second-half of the season, because there seems a chance he could be a Red in 2024/25. But not before.