Arne Slot hints at first summer signing after talks underway for potential £30m deal – report
It would seem a little strange for Liverpool to part ways with Ryan Gravenberch before Arne Slot has really had a chance to assess the Dutchman.
However, one report from Turkey (originating from Yenisafak and relayed by Sporting News) now suggests that the former Bayern Munich man could be off this summer.
The outlet claims that Galatasaray’s president, Dursun Ozbek, and transfer manager, Cenk Ergun, have flown over with the goal of signing the roughly £30m-valued midfielder.
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The Dutchman did admittedly have an underwhelming first campaign under Jurgen Klopp in 2023/24, though has shown flashes of the remarkable potential he has on offer.
Should Liverpool sell Gravenberch this summer?
We’d be urging fans to take the aforementioned report with a pinch of salt.
Perhaps there’s an argument to be made for bolstering the transfer kitty when we’ve got such a surplus of midfielders. However, even if Galatasaray were prepared to meet Gravenberch’s reported value, we wouldn’t even break even for the £34.2m fee initially paid out to Bayern.
More to the point, he’s still a really young talent who hasn’t had enough time, in our view, to prove himself.
Given Arne Slot’s talked up the importance of assessing each member of the squad, we’d be mightily surprised to see our 2023 summer signing ditched at this stage.
What would it indicate?
Playing a game of hypotheticals, selling the footballer would indicate one of two things at Liverpool.
Either Arne Slot feels the midfield department is too bloated, or he’s looking to make room for another midfielder at the club.
We’ve plenty of faith in Wataru Endo’s abilities, though his struggles this morning against Real Betis perhaps hint at the need for a new No.6.
It’s still early days, of course, and the Japanese international deserves the time to prove he can be a useful contributor in our new head coach’s system.
Though, with Stefan Bajcetic unlikely to be thrown into the deep end this early in his career, you could forgive Slot for keeping one eye on market opportunities.
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