Sky Sports journalist Florian Plettenberg has shared an update regarding Liverpool’s reported transfer interest in RB Leipzig defender Josko Gvardiol.
Earlier this week, Fabrizio Romano revealed that the Reds explored the conditions of potentially signing the defender in the previous January transfer window, before adding that it will be an open race to sign him this summer.
And on Tuesday afternoon, Plettenberg shared some details regarding Liverpool’s interest in the Croatian ahead of the upcoming summer transfer window, noting that the Reds could have to fork out as much as €110m (£98m) for the defender.
In a recent Twitter post, he had this to say about the situation:
“As reported yesterday, #LFC is interested! He’s on the list. It would be a great fitting. But I’ve been told that it’s not hot at this stage. No negotiations. Leipzig wants to keep him 100%. Release clause in summer 2024 (!) is around €110m.”
The 21-year-old has 75 appearances for Leipzig to his name, scoring four goals and providing four assists in the process.
29 of those appearances have come during this season across all competitions, seeing the centre-back feature in all but five of Leipzig’s matches.
Across his 21 Bundesliga appearances this term, the youngster has racked up the second-highest passing accuracy percentage (89%) out of players currently at Leipzig.
Then in terms of his defensive attributes, the Croatia international has the third-highest average of clearances (2.5), blocks (0.5) and interceptions per game (1.1).
Gvardiol also showed his talent in Qatar during the World Cup as he ended the tournament with the highest average of clearances (5.3) and interceptions per game (1.6) in the Croatia squad.
Should Liverpool sign Josko Gavrdiol this summer?
Yes
No
The defender, as a result of his individual endeavours at the World Cup, found himself in The Guardian’s team of the tournament, describing him as “the best centre-back in the competition” and highlighting his “interceptions, toughness and confidence on the ball.”
With all of that in mind, it’s easy to see why Liverpool have an interest in the youngster, especially given how two of their current centre-backs, Virgil van Dijk and Joel Matip, are now both over the age of 30.
In our view, the Reds should definitely make an approach to Leipzig this summer to try and gauge what sort of fee it could take for them to sell their star defender, who has previously shared his admiration for the Merseyside club.