Liverpool are claimed to be preparing a “lowball” first bid for Bournemouth left-back Milos Kerkez, knowing they have a clear run at signing the Hungarian.
Kerkez has made no secret of his desire to join Liverpool this summer and it is widely expected that the Reds will land a deal in the near future.
That is not to say that negotiations with Bournemouth are a formality, of course, as they are well within their rights to hold out for their asking price of £45 million.
The i Paper‘s Mark Douglas – who has reported frequently on Liverpool’s interest in Kerkez – claims the south-coast club are “braced for a first official bid as early as this week.”
However, “it is anticipated that Liverpool’s first offer will come in lower than Bournemouth‘s asking price.”
Of course that should come as no surprise as that is how negotiations work, with the high-profile pursuit of Florian Wirtz so far seeing two bids turned down, the most recent worth up to £109 million – below Bayer Leverkusen’s valuation of £126.7 million.
It is explained that “a deal with achievable add-ons is a possible compromise” between Liverpool and Bournemouth, which is also expected to be the case with Wirtz.
But “there is no pressure on Bournemouth to sell on the cheap” having already brought in £50 million following Dean Huijsen’s transfer to Real Madrid.
Liverpool’s push to sign Kerkez is something of an open secret, with The Athletic‘s James Pearce writing on Tuesday that if “as expected” the 21-year-old joins, Kostas Tsimikas is likely to be moved on.
The acceptance that he will become a Liverpool player comes with Man City having “moved on” – in Douglas’ words – to Wolves left-back Rayan Ait-Nouri.
City had been touted as rivals for Kerkez’ signature last month but it has always been suspected that their name was simply being used as part of negotiations over a deal with Liverpool.
The Athletic‘s David Ornstein reports that Ait-Nouri, who had also been linked with a switch to Anfield, is City’s “top target to strengthen at left-back” and “all parties now expect a move to happen.”
Transfer journalist Fabrizio Romano has claimed that personal terms are already agreed between Liverpool and Kerkez, who has since joined up with the Hungary national team.
Hungary will play friendlies against Sweden on Friday and Azerbaijan next Tuesday but a deal could still be brokered in the meantime.
