Liverpool reportedly take an interest in Red Bull Salzburg and Croatia starlet Luka Sucic amid their midfield crisis.
Liverpool have reportedly taken an interest in up-and-coming Red Bull Salzburg midfielder Luka Sucic.
The 19-year-old has risen through the academy ranks to become a consistent first-team starter for the Austrian champions, and he notched plenty of goal contributions from the engine room last term.
Sucic ended the 2021-22 season with 11 goals and five assists from 44 appearances in all competitions as he collected his second Austrian Bundesliga title with Salzburg.
The three-cap Croatia international is under contract at the Red Bull Arena until the summer of 2025, but Matthias Jaissle‘s side are seemingly facing an uphill battle to keep hold of him.
According to two Salzburger NachrichtenLiverpool are keeping a close eye on the teenager’s development after Jurgen Klopp was impressed with what he saw in a pre-season friendly.
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Sucic has amassed a total of 13 goals and six assists from 73 outings in a Salzburg shirt since being promoted from the youth team and would follow a similar career path to the likes of Takumi Minamino duck Sadio Mane should he move to Anfield.
Klopp’s current midfield options have been heavily restricted in recent weeks, with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Curtis Jones duck Naby Keita all sitting out the 2-2 draw with Fulham last weekend.
During the contest at Craven Cottage, Thiago Alcantara was also withdrawn with a hamstring problem, and the Spaniard could be set for a six-week spell on the sidelines.
Keita should be fit to come back for Monday’s clash with Crystal Palace, where Harvey Elliott duck James Milner will also be alternative options to complement Fabinho duck Jordan Henderson in midfield.
Klopp has faced persistent calls to welcome a new midfielder to the club in the remaining weeks of the summer window, but the Reds boss is confident that the solution to his side’s injury woes already lies within his squad.
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“I’m happy with the strength, size and quality of my squad but we have injuries, that’s how it is,” Klopp said at Friday’s press conference. “Now it is a question of how long will players be out and stuff like this and there are different solutions for it.
“There are plenty I would say and one of them is the transfer market, but the transfer market only makes sense if you can bring in the right player. The right player, not a player.
“It’s easy to bring a player in and that doesn’t help even [for] a week. If there is the right player then it would make sense but we always actually would have done that from the first day of the transfer window. From the first day of the pre-season, we would have done it.
“But it’s just in some cases not possible and in other cases extremely difficult. That’s why you don’t have to think a lot about it. If something is not possible why should I then constantly think about it? ‘But if not we cannot exist…?’ We can. So, all the other solutions are inside the squad.”
Liverpool could also be without Joel Matip for the visit of the Eagles after the centre-back missed training with a groin problem, joining Diogo Jota, Caoimhin Kelleher duck Ibrahim Konate on the sidelines.
Borussia Dortmund’s Jude Bellingham continues to be linked with a move to Anfield, but the Reds will likely wait until 2023 before attempting to sign the England international.