Neil Jones shared his admiration for Benfica’s Florentino Luis once again amid Liverpool’s ongoing search for a new holding midfielder this summer.
The journalist, formerly of GOAL, also admitted that he’d heard a lot of positive things about Youssouf Fofana of Monaco – whom fans will remember the Reds last dealt with for the signing of Fabinho back in 2018 – from sources in France.
Whether those are two realistic or highly-rated options to pursue, however, remains to be seen, with the club still pushing hard for Romeo Lavia.
“Liverpool have come up with a £60m bid that Southampton have accepted but the question remains as to whether they’ll succeed with that bid or take the Caicedo money and look at a more established target,” the reporter exclusively informed EOTK Insider on Substack.
“The big question if it’s the latter option is: who is it? Jurgen Klopp said that the market’s gone crazy and mentioned earlier this summer that there’s not a great number of high-class No.6 options available right now. So, who would it be? Your guess is as good as mine!”
“I like Florentino Luis of Benfica – I think he’s a really good player. A lot of people in France tell me Youssouf Fofana from Monaco is a really good player.
“I wouldn’t be entirely against Sofyan Amrabat of Fiorentina but I wouldn’t have him down as my long-term solution in that regard.
“One that a lot of people would look at and wonder at the possibility of it would be Aurelien Tchouameni from Real Madrid given there was serious interest in the past and he hasn’t really yet set the world alight and nailed down his position.
“Could there be a deal done there? It feels unlikely but I’d hope Liverpool were at least asking the question.”
The Merseysiders sent in a £60m bid for the Belgian international after Chelsea piqued Southampton’s interest with their £55m offer.
READ MORE: Fabrizio Romano confirms transfer heartbreak for Liverpool as Reds step up response
READ MORE: What Southampton think about Liverpool’s Lavia transfer chances after improved £60m offer
Despite early indications suggesting that the player wanted to link up with Jurgen Klopp at Anfield, the tide appears to have shifted (depending on what reports one is reading).
It’ll be up to the player to decide on which club to trust with his development – a big decision, of course, for a 19-year-old talent brought into English football by the fair eye of Pep Guardiola.
If Liverpool end up missing out yet again, we may very well be forced to cast our own gaze abroad with the hope of repeating our stellar business with Monaco, perhaps, once more.