Last October, we covered claims from Portugal that Liverpool sent a scout to watch Orkun Kökçü in action for Benfica.
Fast forward to April and today’s edition of Record covers Liverpool’s interest in the 24-year-old.
The newspaper states Liverpool continue to watch the midfielder closely because of Arne Slot.
He managed Kökçü when both were at Feyenoord and the manager is leading the Reds’ pursuit of the player.
The Turkey international excelled under Slot’s orders at Feyenoord and this convinced the Lisbon club to bet on him in 2023.
Record state the player is now ‘at his peak’, managing 11 goals and eight assists from 45 games this season. The Merseyside club see Kökçü as ‘one of the preferred targets’ to strengthen their midfield in the summer window.
Slot currently has Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai as the first-choice midfielders. Despite this, the report states the Liverpool manager wants to sign his former player as he looks to have ‘more reliable solutions’ in the midfield.
Kökçü’s contract is until 2028, and Record state it includes a €150m release clause. It’s highly unlikely that Liverpool will even try to get close to this figure to sign him.
