Liverpool have to change their plans. A fantastic talent has verbally agreed a deal and now the Reds must react.
Liverpool are on the hunt for midfielders and rightly so. We felt the squad desperately needed a better holding player - or just an outright defensive player - in the middle heading into the summer transfer window.
But the club felt differently and have made that abundantly clear. They didn’t just not sign a new midfielder but sold Curtis Jones, who was arguably the best holding midfielder in the squad, or at least the most controlling.
Jones wasn’t even replaced, meaning Liverpool are now down a midfielder and have been relying on Trey Nyoni to step up. Fortunately, he’s taken to senior football brilliantly but is this necessarily the solution for the rest of the season?
We’d be surprised if Liverpool were happy trusting Nyoni in massive late-season fixtures. Instead, we do think they’ll move for a more experienced, proven midfielder even if their teenage talent is a magnificent long-term prospect.
Though, one of those options is off the table, it seems.
Alex Scott has been heavily linked with Liverpool over the last few months. He’s coming into the final year of his contract at Bournemouth and it’s now incredibly clear that he won’t renew it.
The Cherries are thus up for selling and would want a lot of money for arguably their biggest talent. Liverpool have naturally been linked as a club that has a need for midfielder and boasts his former head coach in Andoni Iraola.
However, Chelsea are desperate to sign the player as their replacement for Enzo Fernandez. Now journalist Ben Jacobs makes it clear that they’re in the driving seat - and have possibly wrapped things up already.
“Chelsea increasingly confident of signing Bournemouth midfielder Alex Scott in January,” he writes on Twitter.
“Scott is Chelsea’s top target after Enzo Fernandez’s left for Manchester City on deadline day over the summer.
“Bournemouth want £100m+ and Xabi Alonso’s side are already in fresh talks having made multiple bids over the summer.”