Bobby Clark is attracting significant interest this summer after being frozen out by Salzburg for the Club World Cup, with up to 15 clubs credited with interest.
There were mixed reactions to Liverpool sanctioning the £10 million sale of Clark last summer, but he was expected to be in safe hands when joining Pep Lijnders’ Salzburg.
The dismissal of Jurgen Klopp‘s former assistant, however, altered the landscape for the youngster who featured for just 20 minutes across the final 11 games last season.
It, unfortunately, leaves the writing on the wall for the 20-year-old this summer and according to claims from Football League World, Southampton are among his interested suitors.
While DaveOCKOP claims a further 14 clubs are interested, including Eintracht Frankfurt, Cologne, Hamburg, Sunderland, Leicester, Rangers, West Brom and Birmingham City.
Slovan Bratislava, Chicago Fire, Al Ettifaq, FC Copenhagen, Red Star Belgrade and Al Wahda are also name-checked in a likely brief from Clark’s representatives.
Liverpool hold a 17.5 percent sell-on clause as part of their agreement with Salzburg last summer, as well as first refusal on re-signing Clark if he does leave.
The club are unlikely to bring the 20-year-old back to Anfield, but the key for Clark will be finding the right destination to continue his development after a tough year.
Salzburg will be eager to recoup as much of their £10 million outlay as possible, with Clark representing the third-most they have spent on a single player behind Lucas Gourna-Douath and Brenden Aaronson.
It remains to be seen if any of the abovementioned clubs advance their claimed interest but Clark is deserving of an opportunity to carve out a regular starting role.
He featured 14 times for Liverpool before leaving permanently last summer and made a total of 25 appearances for Salzburg.
Speaking to the Chronicle in April, the player’s father Lee Clark admitted he would “probably” like a return to the UK having “experienced a lot of ups and downs” in Austria.
