Liverpool’s Georginio Wijnaldum has been heavily linked to Barcelona ever since Ronald Koeman was appointed as their new manager on August 19th.
The midfielder is on international duty with the Netherlands and speaking at a press conference on Thursday, he refused to comment on the recent reports linking him to the Catalan club.
On September 3rd, Sport reported the Reds are willing to allow the 29-year-old to leave, but only after signing Bayern Munich’s Thiago Alcântara. The negotiations to sign the Spaniard are ‘stagnant’ because the two clubs haven’t found an economic agreement.
Thiago has expressed his desire to leave the treble winners this summer and recent reports from Germany have suggested he’s leaning towards signing for the Merseyside club.
Both the Dutchman and the former Barcelona midfielder are in their final year of contract at Anfield and the Allianz Arena respectively.
Catalunya Ràdio have a report involving the two players, Barcelona and Liverpool, and it’s been relayed in today’s edition of AS. The headline reads ‘Thiago as an alternative to Wijnaldum’.
The ex-Newcastle United is ‘one of the weaknesses’ of the La Liga club’s new manager, and his signing is a request made by Koeman.
However, Barca’s board have other ideas and they plan on bringing the Spaniard back to the club, seven years after he left Camp Nou for Bayern. The report states Thiago is also of interest to Jürgen Klopp’s side.
There’s a ‘debate’ going on between Koeman and the Spanish giants’ board on whether to sign Thiago or Wijnaldum, as the duo would be in the ‘same price range’.
If Barca decided to go ahead with their board’s decision, they would have to battle it out with Klopp’s side for Thiago’s signature. At the same time, the Reds may only be able to land the Champions League winner if Wijnaldum is sold this summer.
Liverpool will keep a close eye on how the ‘debate’ between the manager and the club’s board would be resolved, over signing one of Wijnaldum and Thiago.
Either way, a battle with Barcelona looks on the cards.
