Liverpool renew interest in free agent seven years after missing out on transfer
Liverpool are “in the queue” for Napoli star Piotr Zielinski seven years after coming close to bringing the Poland international to Anfield.
The midfielder’s contract with the reigning Serie A champions expires at the end of the season and a host of clubs are set to battle it out for his services. Italian newspaper Corriere della Sport say that Jurgen Klopp ’s side are renewing their interest in the 29-year-old but they will face competition from Juventus.
Zielinski will be free to talk to other clubs from the beginning of January and there is no current prospect of him agreeing a new deal in Naples. A move to Liverpool was so close ahead of the 2016/17 campaign that Klopp held direct talks with Zielinski - only for Udinese to instead sell him to Napoli for £14m after talks with the Premier League outfit broke down.
Liverpool subsequently turned their attention to Georginio Wijnaldum, who arrived from Newcastle and helped the Reds to their first Premier League title and a Champions League win. Zielinski has since made more than 200 appearances for Napoli, with the highlight being last season’s league triumph, but in 2018 he spoke of how the switch to Anfield was close to happening.
"My head was a mess. Liverpool finally got a plane and I met with Jurgen Klopp,” Zielinski said. "He said he wanted me in his team. I saw a different world and after returning my head was an even bigger mess.
Klopp's dream Liverpool line up as last-gasp January transfers rejected
"I knew that Liverpool wanted me badly and I knew they would return to the talks as I got that promise in January. It didn't work out for them with Udinese at the end."
The Reds' midfield has undergone wholesale changes this season with Alexis Mac Allister, Ryan Gravenberch and Dominik Szoboszlai arriving in the summer and the manager referring to it as “Liverpool 2.0”. The headline departure was Jordan Henderson, while James Milner, Fabinho, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Naby Keita also departed.
While the season started well, yesterday’s draw away to Luton Town came as a mild surprise - even if Klopp was right to point out that no team has found life easy at Kenilworth Road. “Strange game,” he said. “Strange feeling after the game. I think we should have won, but I think the draw is the deserved result – and we could have lost, so that's how it is.
HAVE YOUR SAY: Would Zielinski be a good signing for Liverpool? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Poland international Piotr Zielinski is a target for Liverpool (Adam Nurkiewicz/Getty Images)"Credit to Luton, they did really well but even with all what they did, we created chances and didn't finish them off with the last conviction, to be 100 per cent honest.
“We were not calm enough in these moments. We should have scored and we should have created, but first and foremost it was alright – we created probably enough, just put one or two to bed and it's fine and you win 1-0 or 2-0.
"Absolutely fine, nobody won here with a crazy result and I knew before why, but now I felt it: they do really well.”
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
