Anfield Update – Liverpool’s Plan To Sign 20-Year Old Midfield Enforcer Has Taken A Step Back As Chelsea And Several Other Clubs Are Also Keen

Thiago Maia’s stock is increasing on a daily basis and the Liverpool target has had a pretty decent season with Santos in the Brazilian league this season.

Maia has played in 31 league games this season and has one assist to his name but the 20-year-old is known for his deep-lying role and is known to be a great tackler in the heart of the park.

With Liverpool looking to add more bite in their midfield next season, Maia has been linked with a move to Anfield. The Reds need cover for the likes of Jordan Henderson and Emre Can, and even James Milner could slot into midfield next season.

Unfortunately for the Reds, they are not the only club looking to sign the defensive midfielder up. Chelsea is another Premier League rival that is looking to sign the player but interest is coming from other clubs across the continent as well.

Napoli is another club that wants to sign the midfielder and there have been a number of Brazilians that have moved to Italy and have done decently in recent seasons. Surprisingly, another name in the list is Schalke but that does seem unlikely as the Germans might not be able to battle the might of some of the other teams interested in the Brazilian.

Ligue 1 seems to have a lot of teams looking to sign Maia and according to Telefoot (h/t Talksport), Lille have joined Monaco and Paris Saint-Germain in the hunt to sign the 20-year-old Santos star.

The Brazilian club knows that their player is high in demand and will only sell when they get the right price. The Reds might have been leading the race for the midfielder at one stage but now it seems they will have a tough fight for his signature.

Jurgen Klopp has to work on strengthening his team and if he doesn’t plan from now and start negotiations, they will lose out on all their top targets again.