Towards the beginning of August, news emerged from France that Liverpool were interested in Rennes’ Benjamin André as Jürgen Klopp shopped around for a defensive minded midfielder.
Having sold Lucas Leiva to Lazio, the German was down a man, and with Naby Keita not arriving at Anfield until next season, an extra body could have done a job.
Le Télégramme stated an offer of €17m was being prepared, but that’s all we ever heard of it, with the story disappearing as quickly as it emerged in the first place.
Well, fast forward to Tuesday of this week, and France Football seem to suggest the offer was actually made by Liverpool, although the fact André is still with the Ligue 1 side means it was kindly declined, and that doesn’t surprise us.
As we explained in our article at the time, the 27-year-old wasn’t exactly intent on leaving France just yet, having recently signed a four and a half year contract with Rennes and stating over the summer he wanted to be part of the club’s long-term project.
We’ll have to see if there’s any renewed interest in the midfielder, as he’s picked up pretty much where he left off last year, and by that we mean he was made the club captain in the summer.
It seems that, unless he’s guaranteed constant game time and a heftier pay cheque, André isn’t all that interested in leaving, and while he’d get more money at Liverpool, would he play regularly?
