Club president responds emphatically to rumoured Liverpool target’s request for summer transfer
· Yahoo Sports
One reported Liverpool target is understood to have requested a transfer this summer, with his club’s president swiftly addressing the matter in public.
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Last month, Ben Jacobs claimed that the Reds will sign another forward in this window after securing Victor Munoz, with Matias Fernandez-Pardo of Lille said to be among the shortlist of candidates at Anfield.
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Newcastle have also been credited with interest in the Belgium international, who played in each of his country’s group games at the World Cup, and the 21-year-old is reportedly keen to move on to pastures new.
Reported Liverpool target requests summer transfer
As reported by L’Equipe, Fernandez-Pardo has asked to leave Lille this summer, having recently changed agents for the second time in two years.
His new representatives met with Olivier Letang in recent days, but the Ligue 1 club’s president was adamant that the Liverpool-linked Belgian isn’t for sale, insisting: “The player is under contract until 2029, and his departure is not an issue. We are counting on him, he knows that, and we have been very clear with him.”
Arsenal, Chelsea and Atletico Madrid are also interested in the attacker, who carries a reported price tag of £60m (Liverpool Echo).
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He’d give Liverpool tremendous versatility in attack
Fernandez-Pardo is a versatile forward who plays chiefly as a number 9 but can easily adapt to either flank (Transfermarkt), and he’d give Andoni Iraola a dependable option anywhere across the frontline.
He ended last season with eight goals and seven assists in 41 games for Lille, and Sky Sport reporter Sacha Tavolieri has previously highlighted the 21-year-old’s ‘physical presence’ and ‘clinical finishing’.
If Liverpool were to sign the Belgian, he’d probably come in as a backup to Alexander Isak at centre-forward and Cody Gakpo, Rio Ngumoha and Munoz on the wings. However, with the Reds set for another hectic campaign of juggling four competitions, each of those should see plenty of game-time so long as they stay fit.
However, Letang’s defiant stance on the forward would indicate that FSG would have to whip up an irresistible offer if they’re to lure Fernandez-Pardo to Anfield, especially with Lille striker Hamza Igamane still sidelined with a serious knee injury and Olivier Giroud turning 40 in September.
For Richard Hughes, the decision to make is whether the Belgium international would be worth pursuing at any cost, or whether his time and effort would be better invested in transfer targets whose clubs might be more amenable to a summer sale.