Liverpool have apparently taken notice of the Italian winger’s strong Euros start.
We are now a week into the European Championship, which is an enternity during the transfer season. With eight days of matches in the books, the rumour mill is churning out new and exciting stories about the stars of the day at a breakneck speed. After Italy’s impressive first two games, it should come as no suprise that several of their players are currently the focus of the rumour mill.
One of these players is Sassuolo winger Domenico Berardi. The 26-year-old forced an own goal to give Italy the lead in their Euros opener against Turkey, and he assisted Manuel Locatelli’s first in a 3-0 win over Switzerland on Wednesday. The strong start has apparently created quite a bit of interest in the Premier League.
According to La Gazzetta dello Sport (translation from football-italia.net), Liverpool, Tottenham, and Leicester City are all keeping tabs on the Italian winger. Though, apparently none of them have made an official bid yet.
Berardi is coming off of an impressive Serie A campaign that saw him score 17 goals and add eight assists in 30 appearances. With his stock rising and a contract that runs until 2024, Sassuolo are said to be looking for a fee north of €50m to part with him.
While he’s certainly an interesting player with an impressive number of goal involvments, it’s hard to imagine Berardi being a legitimate option for Liverpool. He’s a leftie that plays almost exclusively as an inverted winger on the right side. That’s the role that Mohamed Salah typically fills, which is where the issue lies.
Berardi may be worth €50m, and Liverpool may indeed be watching him, but they are only going to spend that kind of money on a player in a position of need. Unless Mohamed Salah or Sadio Mané is sold, winger is not a position of need.
There is almost certainly room to add a young, promising attacker to fight for minutes behind/with Diogo Jota, but that’s not Berardi. His price tag only makes sense for Liverpool if they are planning to slot him in as a starter from the day he signs, and that simply won’t happen as long as Salah and Mané are still wearing the liver bird on their chests.
