SerpApi.Org
Liverpool fans might not want to get their hopes up about Maghnes Akliouche, with the Monaco winger said to already have an agreement in place with Paris Saint-Germain this summer.
The Reds are still searching for a replacement for Mohamed Salah on the right wing, with the Egyptian icon having left the club after nine years in which he became Liverpool’s third highest goalscorer of all time.
That leaves big boots to fill, and with just a month to go until the new season gets underway, the Reds are still no nearer to finding their man, with attempts to sign Yan Diomande having fallen by the wayside after the 19-year-old chose PSG instead.
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Liverpool has since been looking at alternatives, with Bradley Barcola the most prominent name linked, although a new player seemed to have emerged as an option on Wednesday.
Sky Sports reported that the Reds had made an initial approach to Monaco to check on the potential availability of Akliouche, who was part of France’s World Cup squad for the recent World Cup.
The Liverpool Echo backed up that report, although it indicated that the approach had been made earlier in the summer, and that no progress had been made since then. What’s more, Akliouche has since emerged as a prime target for PSG.
The European champions have already had bids rejected by Monaco, with the most recent offer said to have been around $46 million (€40M), and reports in France have indicated that PSG has already got the green light from Akliouche to go ahead with the transfer.
According to RMC Sport’s Fabrice Hawkins earlier this month, PSG has agreed terms with the 24-year-old on a five-year contract in the French capital. Discussions have been ongoing between the two clubs ever since, although a deal is yet to be struck.
That may well dash the hopes of Liverpool supporters before they’d barely begun, and it leaves Andoni Iraola back at square one, with the club’s new head coach having underlined the need for a new right-winger earlier this week.
Asked how many signings his side needs to make this summer, Iraola told reporters after touching down in Chicago for Liverpool's pre-season tour of the United States: "I think it is difficult to say a number when the market is open. You have to be always open to new options to improve the squad. There are obvious situations where we need to sign players.
"A winger for example, we definitely need to sign a winger, but there are other situations where we will have to analyze what the market gives you, what is the cost, how we also see the players we have.
"We have some tricky positions where we have injured players, that we trust, but it is still not the ideal situation, so it will depend on a lot of things.
"[At right-back] I think it depends on the Conor situation, at the end if you have a fully fit, healthy Conor Bradley, we are very happy, ready to go, and we would not be asking ourselves these questions."
