Arsenal and Newcastle in transfer battle for long-term Liverpool target Brandt

11 November 2023 , 20:30

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Arsenal and Newcastle in transfer battle for long-term Liverpool target Brandt

Borussia Dortmund attacking midfielder Julian Brandt is wanted by Arsenal and Newcastle.

Eddie Howe’s Toon have had a close-up view of the 27-year-old Germany star in their two Champions League games, Brandt scoring in Tuesday night’s 2-0 defeat of the Magpies.

They like what they have seen, also the case with the Gunners. Arsenal have been tracking Brandt although Dortmund have so far refused to consider any bids for a player they secured for around £22million.

Last summer he signed an extension to his contract taking him to June 2026, but that hasn’t stopped some Premier League big boys continuing to court him. It’s unlikely Dortmund – with their Champions League ambitions still intact – will be tempted to sell in the January window.

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But it won’t stop the interest with any likely move arriving in the summer. Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has been an admirer of the left sided player, who joined his old club from Bayer Leverkusen in 2019, for some time.

Klopp's interest in Brandt famously dates all the way back to 2017, when the Reds boss saw his fellow countryman as the perfect addition to his evolving Liverpool squad, and even preferred him over Mohamed Salah.

Brandt scored against Newcastle in the Champions League in midweek (Bernd Thissen/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images)

Brandt was unsure about making the move from Leverkusen at the time, saying: "My gut feeling and my head are telling me the time to move has not arrived yet. I have to straighten things out in Leverkusen.

“Of course there are players who say a year without European football before the World Cup is good reason to move. But if you move to a bigger club a year before the World Cup, you risk taking time at first to settle which possibly means playing fewer games.”

In an interview with The Athletic earlier this year he made it clear that he ended up regretting not joining Liverpool.

"I had that chance to take that next step to join Liverpool, but the time wasn't right for me," he said. "I was aware that they were also looking at Mo Salah at the time. It's a shame because I would have loved to play for Kloppo."

John Richardson