Reds plan to add young Spaniard to their ranks.
Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers is said to be weighing up a move for talented Athletic Bilbao starlet Iker Muniain this summer as he looks to bolster his squad ahead of next season’s Champions League campaign.
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With the Reds currently topping the Premier League table, Rodgers is keen to ensure that the club stay in amongst the title chasing pack next term by targeting a number of potential new signings, and CaughtOffside understands that the latest player to be targeted by the Anfield chief is Bilbao’s young forward.
Muniain has been touted as one of the brightest young talents to come out of the already brilliant youth production line that Spain already boasts and Bilbao aren’t thought to be able to hold on to him for much longer as his increasingly impressive performances continue to catch the eye.
Athletic are already well aware of his popularity in Europe and sought to offer him a new deal to tie him down to the club for the foreseeable future.
However, Muniain is also aware of how high his stock has risen recently that he has held off signing the new deal until the end of the season, prompting speculation to swell surrounding his future.
Muniain has been a key fixture in the Bilbao side since first breaking into the first team back in 2009 and has gone on to make 207 appearances, scoring 29 goals in the process.
It is his versatility that has proved to be one of the major factors in Rodgers’ decision to pursue the player as he is equally as comfortable either on the wing or through the middle as an attacking midfielder and a striker, and with the likes of Iago Aspas due to move on at the end of the season he will need to replenish the space left by the misfiring Spaniard.
However, Bilbao are hoping that the possibility of playing Champions League football will be enough to keep him at the club beyond the summer. Athletic currently occupy third place in the La Liga table, six points ahead of Sevilla in fourth, meaning that they are on course to book a place in Europe’s most elite competition.
But Rodgers is banking on being able to offer him the same chance but at a Premier League winning side at the same time.
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