Jürgen Klopp may be in a celebratory mood along Merseyside after reports emerging from Argentina have linked Liverpool with an agreement for SL Benfica youngster Enzo Fernández.
According to news outlet La Capital (and relayed by Liverpool Echo), the Reds have already reached an agreement in principle over the 21-year-old midfielder after impressing under Lionel Scaloni as La Albiceleste has reached the semi-finals of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Earlier reports today via Portuguese outlet Record stated that the club had begun to open negotiations with Benfica over a possible transfer.
La Capital has also suggested that Premier League rivals Manchester City and Manchester United have both also been tracking the Argentine international with interest in a summer move being mooted.
Despite Liverpool - as well as other top clubs both in England and on the continent - having a long-standing interest in Jude Bellingham with the England starlet and Borussia Dortmund wunderkind set to leave the Ruhr valley in the summer, the need for Klopp’s senior squad to add multiple new faces into central midfield means that a move for both Fernández and Bellingham is hardly out of the realm of possibility.
With the club set to lose both James Milner and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in the summer, with other central options the likes of Thiago and Jordan Henderson both on the wrong side of 30, and the future of Naby Keïta increasingly looking as though it too remains away from Anfield, multiple additions into the heart of the team is required.
Fernández has been one of the breakout players of the tournament this winter despite not being slated as a starting option under Scaloni, but he is now viewed as vital in the matchday XI due to his performances while also scoring one of the goals of the tournament with his long-range thunderbolt against Mexico in Argentina’s 2-0 win during group play.
Currently valued at €35m according to Transfermarkt and having only arrived in Lisbon this summer, the fact that he is already viewed as a first-choice option under Roger Schmidt at the Estádio da Luz, Liverpool may have to stump up upwards of €50m (postulated) given Benfica’s track record of selling young talents for maximum return.
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