Speaking recently on The Transfer Window podcast, Duncan Castles and Ian McGarry discussed several topics of the summer transfer window, and, in particular, the future of Liverpool midfielder, Marko Grujic.
Since moving to Liverpool from Red Star Belgrade in what was a £6.3 million deal back in 2016, Grujic has gone on to feature just 14 times for the Reds, scoring no goals and providing one assist.
In recent years, the 24-year-old has been sent on a number of loan spells, including the second half of the 2017/18 season to Cardiff City, where he scored once in 14 appearances, and a two-year loan at Hertha Berlin, where he featured 54 times, scoring nine goals and providing three assists.
With it being reported earlier this year that Liverpool would be willing to part with Grujic permanently over the summer window, Hertha were said to be leading the race for the midfielder, however, the player’s agent, Fali Ramadani, recently told Kicker (via Get German Football News) that Liverpool now want to keep the Serbia international until at least the January transfer window.
Castles provided some more information regarding the situation surrounding Grujic on The Transfer Window podcast.
He said: “Hertha are interested in making the [loan] deal permanent, but there are some complications. They are quite well-financed, but they do need to move at least one player on before doing the deal, I’m told.
“There’s some interest from within the Premier League in the player, but you’ve got something that Liverpool do [on] quite a frequent basis of trying to really maximise the revenue for players and ask for fees that seem a bit unrealistic.
“I’m told they’re asking [for] €20 million as a transfer fee for Grujic, which, in a [pandemic-affected] market is substantial.
“Liverpool, [it] seems, are pushing for the €20 million, because they think they can get €20 million from Hertha – that may put other moves in jeopardy for the player.
“He would be happy to stay at Liverpool if required, but he’d prefer to get playing time. My understanding is Liverpool have told him that they don’t necessarily want to move him out, they would like him to be in [the] squad, or they wouldn’t be upset if he was part of their squad, but obviously, he’s not going to be high on [Jurgen] Klopp’s agenda to play in what is a fairly established midfield, and one that Klopp is looking to improve by bringing Thiago [Alcantara] in from Bayern.”
Would you like to see Marko Grujic given a chance in the Liverpool side?
Yes
No
TIF Thoughts…
From Castles’ comments, it would appear that the reports of Ramadani’s comments could well be true, and that Grujic could remain part of the Liverpool squad beyond the end of the summer transfer window, even if the midfielder is not utilised often by Klopp.
However, with the transfer window remaining open for a little while longer yet, we will have to wait and see whether anything changes with the situation of the £13.05 million-rated 24-year-old.