Klopp turns to Martins as Salah swoop stalls

Liverpool have opened talks to sign winger Gelson Martins from Sporting Lisbon, according to Sky Sports News.

The broadcaster claim on their website that the Merseyside giants have turned their attention to landing the Portugal international, 22, after growing frustrated in their pursuit of Roma wide man Mohamed Salah.

Sky Sports report that Liverpool have scouted Martins all season and have been impressed by his performances for the team that finished third in the Portugese top flight.

It is said that Martins has a release clause set at £46.5million but Sporting would be willing to sell for just under £40million “in the right circumstances”.

Right-winger Martins, who has been capped five times by Portugal, was a consistent scorer and supplier of goals in the recently completed domestic season.

His 32 league encounters yielded six goals as well as a highly impressive 14 assists, one of the leading tallies in the division.

It was widely reported earlier this week that Liverpool were close to signing Salah for a fee that would exceed their £35million transfer record and that the deal could be done within days.

Klopp is keen to strengthen a Liverpool forward line that was over reliant upon Sadio Mane for a player capable of destroying defences with speed.

Like Salah and Mane, Martins operates predominantly on the right flank.