Fabrizio Romano has confirmed that members of the Liverpool board and Jurgen Klopp both ‘really appreciate’ Cheick Doucoure.
That said negotiations between the Reds and Crystal Palace are understood to be far from advanced, with the latter especially keen to keep hold of the 23-year-old holding midfielder.
“People on the board and Jurgen Klopp really appreciate him. The problem is Crystal Palace. That’s why at the moment we can’t mention a proper negotiation between Liverpool and Crystal Palace or an advanced negotiation,” the Italian journalist spoke on the Here We Go Podcast on Tuesday morning.
“The appreciation is there, the player is high on the list of Liverpool but after losing important players Crystal Palace are really fighting to keep their players at the club.
“They don’t want to sell anyone, this is what Palace are communicating. It would take a very big proposal to change the situation around Doucoure.”
The Malian excelled in his first campaign in London following on from his switch away from Lens, winning the Eagles’ Player of the Year award despite fierce competition from the likes of Eberechi Eze, Marc Guehi and Michael Olise.
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Where does Romano’s update leave Liverpool?
One might have imagined the Selhurst Park-based outfit’s success in holding on to the latter of that trio might have helped enable a Liverpool transfer for the Malian.
Judging by Romano’s update on the matter, however, it seems we’ll still have quite the fight on our hands to secure Doucoure’s signature as our fourth potential midfield signing this summer.
With this in mind, it’s understandable why whispers around the likes of Andre and Ryan Gravenberch have increased in volume in recent weeks.
All three, of course, find themselves at clubs stubbornly refusing to let their prized talents go any time soon. For Liverpool’s sake, we’ll be hoping the mood shifts very soon as transfer deadline day looms ever closer.
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