South American star is contracted to his club until June 2016.
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Liverpool are set to go head to head with Serie A outfit Fiorentina in the battle to sign Palermo front man Abel Hernandez in the January transfer window, according to reports in the Daily Mirror.
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The Merseysiders had been hoping to have a free run at the highly rated Uruguay international this month, that was though until Vincenzo Montella’s side entered the race to sign Hernandez too.
And this latest development will have come as a huge blow to Reds head coach Brendan Rodgers, with the Northern Irishman understood to be desperate to add more strength in depth to his forward line for the second half of the season before the winter transfer window slams shut for business for this campaign at the end of the month.
Hernandez, 23, has been with the Serie A minnows for the past five years now, with the attacker first arriving at the club from Uruguayan giants Penarol in February 2009.
And in the intervening five-year period in Italy, Hernandez has managed to find the back of the net on 33 occasions in total in his 111 matches in all competitions for Palermo, including 28 strikes in 100 Serie A outings for the club.