Liverpool have been frustrated in their attempts to sign Naby Keita from RB Leipzig as the German club has stood firm on their decision to not sell the 22-year-old midfielder.
We were willing to pay up to £70million for the Guinean powerhouse in the summer window but Leipzig don’t want to lose him. It seems like we will have to wait until next summer when a clause in the midfielder’s contract gets activated, which would see him leaving the Bundesliga side for £48million.
While we have not actively been looking at alternatives, The Express’ journalist Gregg Bakowski claims that we should move for Paris Saint-Germain Blaise Matuidi instead. PSG were in the news for smashing the world transfer record as they bought Neymar from Barcelona, and they could reduce their massive financial spending by selling a few of their players.
Matuidi is a beast in midfield and even though he is 30 years of age, he would be a decent stop-gap option to have until we can get Keita into the side next season. The French international could be available on the cheap though as he is set to enter the final year of his contract.
No Keita, But, Can Matuidi Be The Solution?
Age is always a factor when a player comes to the Premier League but the Frenchman seems to be built for the Premier League.
He is just the kind of rock in the midfield that we need, but he isn’t someone who can spray the ball out and create attacks. The 30-year-old can be a seen as an N’Golo Kante type of player but if he plays with the right partner in midfield, we would actually have a chance of dominating teams.
It certainly would be a risk if we were to sign him ahead of the new season, as moving from Ligue1 to the Premier League is tough. But a certain Zlatan Ibrahimovic defied the odds (although I hate to admit it) when he moved from PSG and we can hope that a similar trajectory for the French midfielder takes place if he joins us.
https://youtu.be/wvBrZSOQZSY
