The Atletico Madrid midfielder is said to be of interest to Jürgen Klopp and the Reds according to the Spanish press.
While for Liverpool and the club’s fans the primary focus right now is their efforts to follow up League Cup triumph with silverware in the FA Cup, Premier League, and Champions League, for the rumour mongers of the world there are always transfer tales to tell.
This week sees Spanish outlets discussing the future of Atletico Madrid midfielder and Spanish international Marcos Llorente, with talk of Atleti increasingly seeing the 27-year-old as something less than a nailed-on starter and so willing to sell as they seek to raise funds.
As for where he might end up, according to Fichajes the Reds are interested, with the player being highly admired by manager Jürgen Klopp. However, there do seem more than a few reasons to pause and wonder about just how much there is to this transfer rumour.
Most obvious would seem to be the framing of the story, one that casts Llorente as being considered surplus to requirements to Atleti—or at least of more value for the club for what he could fetch as a transfer fee than he would be to them in 2022-23 on the pitch.
Given Liverpool have one of Europe’s consensus top three squads alongside Manchester City and Bayern Munich, one might reasonably wonder just how interested they might be in a player said to have been deemed surplus to requirements by his current club.
Add in that his current deal runs through 2027 and letting him go on the cheap would likely tip Atleti’s calculus back towards keeping him as well as the fact that at 27 years of age he wouldn’t help the Reds get younger at the position and it’s hard to make sense of.
While Liverpool are expected to make a significant midfield signing in the offseason, the expectation will be for them to sign a younger player than Llorente as they look to the future and the phasing out of some of their more veteran midfield players.
