Liverpool
Why Liverpool shouldn’t sign £32m Ligue 1-linked midfielder
Why Liverpool shouldn’t sign £32m Ligue 1-linked midfielder
The French midfielder has been turning heads this year, but should Liverpool look elsewhere?
Liverpool are reportedly tracking Nice’s Khephren Thuram but it is claimed they are not expected to proceed with a deal – and that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
Granted, he is a very talented young midfielder who will most likely make the move to a top club in Europe at some point in the next few seasons, however, there’s stronger targets for Jurgen Klopp to consider.
According to The Daily Mail, it’s now unlikely that Liverpool will make concrete steps to sign him. They claim that although the Reds have indeed ‘tracked’ Thuram, they are ‘not expected’ to take their interest any further at this stage.
Assessing their current targets, Liverpool are currently linked with the likes of Ryan Gravenberch, Mason Mount and Alexis Mac Allister and all three point towards Klopp wanting midfielders that not only work extremely hard, but also have an eye for goal.
Thuram has nine goals and 11 assists across 139 appearances for Nice and Monaco during his career so far.
With two goals and eight assists coming this season – which is a solid return – but he is yet to show he could take the step up to the Premier League, or even Europe’s elite competition.
With a deal to run until 2025, any deal for the Nice midfielder would likely be north of £50m and when comparing that deal to signing the likes of Mount or Mac Allister, it does struggle to stand up against those potential deals as they are more likely to come straight into the team and have a positive effect.
But his lack of experience in Europe would be a key stumbling block when compared to their other targets – especially considering Liverpool will say goodbye to the likes of James Milner, Arthur Melo, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Naby Keita this summer.
The former Monaco midfielder has played just 48 minutes of Champions League football across his career and his 10 appearances in the Europa Conference League this season remain the best exposure of his career to date.
In fact, Thuram may be the player Liverpool require in the future, after he’s had more years to develop, but, at least for now, the club will be better placed bringing in players for the present as they try to bridge the unassailable gap to Manchester City once again by signing proven talents.
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‘Spoke to Jurgen’: Former Liverpool player says Klopp asked him to join his coaching team at Anfield
Former Liverpool defender Kolo Toure has revealed that Jurgen Klopp asked him to stay on as a coach at Anfield.
Toure spent three years at Liverpool, leaving following the Europa League final defeat in 2016. But in a feature for liverpoolfc.com today, the Ivorian says Klopp actually offered him the chance to stay.
“I spoke to Jurgen and he told me my contract wasn’t going to be renewed – but he did, however, want me as a coach in his backroom team. That was massive for me,” Toure explained. “I think I was in Africa when he made the call, ‘Kolo, we want to keep you but I want you in my coaching staff.’ I told him I needed to think about it.
“Having the opportunity to work with him as a coach was immense – it was going to be fantastic for me. But at the same time, I was talking with Brendan at Celtic as well. Brendan was offering me one more year as a player. It was a hard decision to make, very hard.
“Liverpool was a great place for me. With the intensity of the game and my personality, it all fit really well. But ultimately, I wanted to play one more year and then just see what came after that.”
Toure declines Jurgen’s offer
In the end, Toure did join his former Reds boss Rodgers at Celtic. The Ivory Coast legend helping Brendan to another league title in Scotland.
After that, Toure joined Rodgers’ backroom team, before following him to Leicester City in 2019. That’s where Kolo remained until he took the step-up to being a first-team manager late last year.
Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images
Unfortunately though, football management showed just how brutal it can be, Toure sacked after just nine games in charge of Wigan Athletic.
Now without work, there is – in theory – an opportunity for Klopp and his old centre-back to work together once again. It will be interesting to see whether anything comes of that.
In the meantime, the 42-year-old continues to be highly thought of at Liverpool. It certainly isn’t the club he’s most associated with – he’ll always be known as an ‘invincible’ at Arsenal – but he made many friends during his three years on Merseyside.
It would have been great to have seen him on the touchline with Jurgen. But having earned his stripes as a coach elsewhere, maybe it’s still something that could happen.
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