Liverpool journalist Paul Gorst has been talking about the Merseyside club’s potential interest in signing Leeds United winger Raphinha during the upcoming summer transfer window.
This comes after Gorst made an appearance on a recent episode of the Liverpool Echo’s Blood Red Podcast where he spoke about a variety of topics concerning the club.
On the subject of Raphinha, who has been linked with a move to Anfield in recent weeks, Gorst had this to say about the player.
He said: “Whenever I’ve seen him, looks bright and inventive and I wouldn’t be surprised if Liverpool weren’t at least keeping tabs on his situation.
“I think he’s only been there one season; I think they might have paid just over £15 million or so for him. He will be one who they’d definitely [be] looking at, I would guess.
“I don’t know that for certain. I haven’t heard that from anyone at the club, but just knowing the way they work and so on, he very much fits the mould of a Liverpool-type forward doesn’t he – versatile, done it a little bit further down the league and would probably be available for not astronomical money so yeah, for me, he ticks several boxes.”
Leeds signed Raphinha back in the previous summer transfer window from French club Stade Rennais for a fee of £17 million.
During his debut season at the Yorkshire club, the 24-year-old, who is currently valued at £22.5 million, managed to score six goals and provide nine assists in 30 Premier League appearances (per Transfermarkt).
TIF Thoughts on Paul Gorst’s comments on Raphinha…
Taking into account Raphinha’s decent goals and assists record this season and the fact that he ended the campaign with a solid overall season rating of 7.22/10, making him Leeds’ highest-rated player according to WhoScored, it’s understandable why Gorst thinks Liverpool could have an interest in the Brazilian.
Do Liverpool need to sign Raphinha this summer?
Yes
No
However, with Raphinha playing the majority of his league games in the right-wing position, it would be hard to see him playing there regularly for Liverpool when they have Mohamed Salah there, who managed to score 28 goals from the right wing this season.
In our view, if Salah were to leave the Reds this summer, then potentially replacing him with Raphinha could be a decent move for them.
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