On Friday emerged a rather interesting rumour from France, thanks to Le Télégramme, the only outlet in France reporting it, that Liverpool were preparing a ‘concrete offer’ for Rennes’ Benjamin André.
The logic behind the move in England was, having let Lucas Leiva move and struggling to convince RB Leipzig to allow Naby Keita to leave, Jürgen Klopp needed a new defensively capable midfielder to bolster his squad.
After all, averaging 3.4 tackles and 2.1 interceptions per 90 minutes, few were as capable as the 27-year-old in his role in Ligue 1 last year, and that’s why Liverpool are said to be prepared to spend around €17m on him.
While this all makes a lot of sense on paper, there’s a strong chance Rennes aren’t going to go along with this for a handful of reasons.
To start with, André signed a new four-year deal with the club just over a month ago, meaning €17m for one of their key players seems a bit low.
The player himself even told Ouest-France two days ago he wanted to be a part of his club’s long-term project, which is to go as far as possible, with hope to replicate Nice’s successes from last year.
Furthermore, the defensive midfielder has just been made the club’s new captain after penning his new contract, showing the faith Christian Gourcuff has in his star.
Finally, with the new season having already kicked off in France, finding a replacement capable of doing the same job as someone who has been at the club for three years now would be very difficult for the Ligue 1 side.
Of course, there’s always the possibility that a move to Liverpool would be too good to refuse for the 27-year-old, and that’s when things get very interesting.
