Real Madrid star Marco Asensio picked up a bad injury in the friendly against Arsenal that could reportedly see Zinedine Zidane work to replace him with Liverpool forward Sadio Mane.
This is according to Don Balon, though the report suggests Mane’s asking price is likely to be far too high for the Spanish giants.
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Don Balon claim Liverpool would want as much as £178million for the Senegal international, who was one of their best players last season.
This would surely put Real off making a move, but the report does stress quite how highly Zidane rates the former Southampton man.
It’s also worth noting that Los Blancos look set to make some player sales this summer, with AS reporting they could raise as much as £89m from offloading Gareth Bale and James Rodriguez.
That would surely help them get closer to being able to afford Mane, but Liverpool fans will hope the club stand firm and manage to buck the trend of losing their star names to Spain’s big two.
LFC have had to cope with the likes of Luis Suarez and Philippe Coutinho joining Barcelona in recent times, while Xabi Alonso was also poached by Real Madrid back in 2009, while they also struggled to hold on to the likes of Fernando Torres and Raheem Sterling.
Now, however, the Merseyside giants look in a stronger state after winning the Champions League last season, so should be able to persuade Mane that he’d have little to gain from leaving Anfield for the Bernabeu.