Inter Milan midfielder Mateo Kovacic “will join Liverpool for £22 million in May,” according to Italian publication Tuttomercatoweb (translated by ITV).

ITV’s report notes “cash-strapped Inter are desperate to sell and the Reds have agreed to meet their asking price.” At 20 years old Kovacic represents everything Brendan Rodgers looks for in a player: He is young, versatile and confident on the ball.

The Croatian international has made 20 starts and five substitute appearances in Serie A this season, according to WhoScored.com. He has scored five, assisted one and picked up a red card in the latter stages of Inter’s January draw with Juventus.

Roberto Mancini primarily deploys Kovacic in central midfield, but he regularly takes up a more attacking position and can work from the left flank. He is a confident mover of the ball—completing 86.3 percent of his passes this campaign—and averages 2.9 successful dribbles per match, recorded by WhoScored. Only seven Serie A players have managed a higher average.

However, as tweeted by Fabrizio Romano of Sky Sport, Kovacic’s agent says he’s going nowhere:

Kovacic’s qualities can be seen below:

Rodgers may be looking to land greater experience, though, particularly with Steven Gerrard exchanging the club for Los Angeles Galaxy in the summer.

Roma’s Miralem Pjanic “has put Liverpool and Manchester United on red alert,” according to Corriere dello Sport (h/t Bruce Archer of the Express). Although Archer outlines the Bosnian as an “option” to replace Gerrard, they aren’t similar players.

Pjanic doesn’t add a physical presence, but he is combative and willing to work hard for the team. He’s never scored more than six goals in a domestic league campaign—be it with Roma or Lyon, per WhoScored—but is the kind of player who can help out on multiple fronts.

Rodgers’ 3-4-2-1 formation welcomes tenacious, gutsy stars, but it’s wrong to suggest Pjanic can replace the outgoing captain on a like-for-like basis.

Spanish publication Sport (h/t Kieran Gill of the Daily Mail) recently outlined Liverpool as one of the six clubs looking to lure Dani Alves away from Barcelona. This was highlighted by Sport‘s recent headline, tweeted by 101 Great Goals:

Xavi Canals of Sport believes Alves remains important to the Camp Nou side: “(Boss) Luis Enrique still counts on Dani Alves. He wants the club to give him a new deal, although now there are other clubs in the picture which makes things more difficult.”

It seems Rodgers would have to work extremely hard to lure Alves to Anfield. He cannot offer the same level of wages as teams like United and Paris Saint-Germain—who are highlighted on the above newspaper frontpage—so this may be a lost cause.

Kovacic, Pjanic and Alves all represent the kind of quality Liverpool should be chasing, meaning fans can look forward to an exciting summer. Although the club’s Champions League hopes remain in the balance, Rodgers has proved himself as a competitive player in the transfer market over the last couple of seasons. As such, top-class reinforcements shouldn’t be too far away.

from Bleacher Report – Front Page http://ift.tt/1GZcXOn
via IFTTT http://ift.tt/eA8V8J