Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure “has put Liverpool on alert” as he is reportedly willing to “snub a move to Inter Milan this summer” in order to remain in the Premier League.

According to John Cross in the Mirror, it is widely believed the Ivorian will be surplus to requirements at City in the summer when Pep Guardiola is installed as manager, and Inter are prepared to offer him a three-year deal worth less than £100,000 a week. 

The report added Toure, 32, has also had offers from China, but he is not willing to uproot his settled family from England and thus wants to stay in the Premier League.

Per Simon Osborn in Metro, Liverpool could be the beneficiaries if they decide to go in for Toure.

His brother, Kolo, is already at Anfield, and the central midfielder could be an asset on Merseyside having shown his immense effectiveness in English football over the last six years.

However, it seems as though Toure would not be an ideal fit under manager Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool.

Bleacher Report’s Sam Tighe previously explained that he would be moved on from City by Pep Guardiola because of his inability to fit into the Spaniard’s hardworking culture:

Klopp demands similar application from his players, thus it is unlikely the German boss will go after Toure even if he does become available in the summer.

Liverpool have been given a boost in their reported pursuit of Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen after the German denied already agreeing to join City—a move he was recently reported to be “on the verge of,” per Matt Law in the Telegraph. 

He replied “no” when asked whether the City deal had been struck and said: “At the end of the season we will see what the situation is and we’ll talk,” per Spanish outlet Onda Cero (via Jack Staplehurst in the Express). 

Staplehurst added a summer exit from the Camp Nou for Ter Stegen is “likely” as he continues to be frustrated at playing second fiddle to No. 1 goalkeeper Claudio Bravo.

He is good enough to warrant a starting role at a number of other top clubs and would surely be a vast improvement on Simon Mignolet in the Liverpool goal.

The Belgian is an accomplished shot stopper, but he makes far too many mistakes to be considered a top-level keeper, per Squawka:

At just 23 years old, Ter Stegen is only likely to get better and better and could be Liverpool’s No. 1 for the next decade and more.

With City clearly not having yet signed him up, the Reds still have a chance of sealing a move for him this summer.

Elsewhere, Liverpool have been dealt something of a blow in their reported pursuit of Mario Gotze after Robert Lewandowski urged his Bayern Munich team-mate to remain with the Bundesliga giants in the long term, per Joe Rimmer of the Liverpool Echo:

Mario proved during the international break that he is always capable of showing what he can do and that he is a great player.

He should not be reading what people say about him in the papers. He does not need all the extra pressure.

Mario knows how to deal with it, though. He is used to it. It is silly that there is so much talk about him.

He is a Bayern player, and he has plenty of games left until the end of the season to prove that he is good enough for Bayern.

He has plenty of time to prove his critics wrong. He should stay at Bayern for a long time because he is a great player.

German international Gotze has been often underused this season at Bayern, starting only six Bundesliga matches, per WhoScored.com.

As a result, he has been strongly linked with a move to Liverpool to rejoin Klopp, who handed him his debut and oversaw some of his best football at Borussia Dortmund, per the Daily Mail‘s Dominic King.

However, Lewandowski’s backing of Gotze is unlikely to help the Reds’ cause in their bid to sign the 23-year-old winger.  

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