One of the revelations of the Serie A in 2016 with Atalanta, Franck Kessié is attracting a lot of attention with his performance in his first season as a starter.
Scoring four goals in his first three games from a defensive midfield position, the player has calmed down a bit, totalling a comfortable six in 14 appearances so far, but his ability has not gone unnoticed.
Some of the biggest clubs in Europe have, of course, been linked with a move in both January and next summer for the 19-year-old, including Liverpool on Friday.
The Ivory Coast international has apparently now become a target for Jürgen Klopp, according to Corriere dello Sport, with the German manager ready to spend €22m to bring him to Anfield.
This, somehow, has been twisted to £22.5m by the local press, but the Italian newspaper make the figure very clear, and also reveal the contract Liverpool would be ready to offer the youngster.
Kessié, who turns 20 on the 19th of December, could see a £40k/week five-year deal end up in front of him if Corriere are to be believed, which would be a hefty increase on his current deal.
Atalanta have made it pretty clear, considering they are 6th in the league and slightly overachieving, they don’t want to sell anyone in January, meaning any deal will be for next summer.
Fully expect more on this next week, with more clubs ‘joining the bidding race’.
That’s how this tends to work.
