Liverpool turn attention towards Ligue 1 defender – £14.9m bid made with £54,000-a-week in wages

Liverpool have submitted a £14.9million bid for Olympique Lyon’s Argentine centre-back Emanuel Mammana, claims the Sport Review.

The 21-year old defender, who only joined the French outfit last summer from Argentine club River Plate, has been very highly-rated back in his homeland and had attracted strong interest from several clubs in Europe before moving to Lyon.

The report from Sport Review states that we are willing to offer Mammana a five-year contract worth £2.8million a year, which would see him make somewhere around £54,000-per-week in wages.

However, the player has made it clear that he doesn’t want to negotiate personal terms until there is an agreement between the two clubs, the report says.

After being in the side with the second-worst defensive record in the top six of the Premier League last season, defensive reinforcements are a top priority for our manager Jurgen Klopp. And with Mamadou Sakho also unlikely to stay beyond the summer, a lack of depth in the centre-back department will hurt, especially now that we are on the cusp of playing in the UEFA Champions League proper.

We were linked heavily with a move for Southampton centre-half Virgil van Dijk. However, with that move hitting a snag, it seems that the gaffer has turned his sight towards Mammana.

The 21-year old made 25 appearances across all competitions in the 2016/17 campaign for Lyon, in which he managed to find the back of the net once. He has also taken the pitch on three occasions for the Argentina national team, after having made his debut back in 2014.

Mammana shares a unique record with former Liverpool midfielder and fan favourite Javier Mascherano – these two are the only players to have made their debut for the Argentina senior national team, without having featured for the youth sides, giving an indication as to how highly he is regarded back in his native.

Mammana may not be that familiar a name in England, but he has shown enough abilities in his fledgling career that he can be entrusted with taking up the defensive responsibilities for us in the future.