LIVERPOOL have stepped up their interest in Crystal Palace midfielder Cheick Doucoure after missing out on moves for Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia, according to reports.
The Reds have so far failed to reinforce their central midfield after losing midfielders Jordan Henderson and Fabinho to the Saudi league this summer.
They also lost veteran midfielder James Milner to Brighton on a free transfer at the end of the season.
And after initial promise of a midfield rebuild when bringing in Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai the club are now scrambling to bring in some defensive nous.
The club had a £111million offer for Brighton’s Moises Caicedo accepted last week but the Ecuador international ultimately opted to join Chelsea.
They also lost out on Southampton’s Romeo Lavia who is set to join the Blues in a £53 deal.
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Which has led to Liverpool identifying Crystal Palace’s Doucoure as the man to anchor their midfield this season.
The Independent report that Palace would look to demand around £60m for the midfielder, who arrived at the club from Lens last summer.
The 23-year-old midfielder made 34 appearances for Palace last season and registered three assists as he made himself a mainstay of the Eagles’ midfield.
Palace will be reluctant to lose the midfielder this late in the window – with the midfielder a key part of their side.
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Doucoure played the full 90 minutes during the Eagles’ 1-0 win over Sheffield United on the opening day.
The Independent’s report adds that while Palace have put a price tag on Doucoure, they could still be reluctant to sell if the price is met due to not wanting to lose too many key players this summer.
The window has seen the club’s talisman Wilfried Zaha depart on a free to Galatasaray and the club are also set to lose Michael Olise after Chelsea met his £35m release clause.
Eberechi Eze is also attracting interest from the likes of Tottenham this summer and Palace will likely set a limit on outgoings as they do not want to be seen to be engaging in a fire sale of their best players.
On Liverpool’s own high turnover of midfield players, manager Jurgen Klopp said he is keen to “reload” his squad.
Klopp said: “We don’t have to always say ‘Milner would have said that and Henderson would have said that and Firmino would have smiled here.’ We should not do it like that. That makes no sense.
“We have this kind of new start with this Liverpool reloaded, it’s an exciting thing. Everybody was asking for changes, rightly so, because we were together for a long time.
“It’s a new chance for everybody, everybody has to step up. We all share responsibility and it’s not that we should give ourselves too much time to grow into it, let’s do it.
“Let’s take the responsibility and go from there and don’t try to be like somebody. Be the best version of yourself and then you have a good chance to help the team in the best possible way.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
