Liverpool could reportedly be preparing a bid of around €40million for the transfer of Leeds United midfielder Kalvin Phillips.
The England international has been a top performer at Elland Road, and also stood out for Gareth Southgate’s Euro 2020 finalists with a series of influential displays at last summer’s big international tournament.
It’s clear that Phillips would be at home at a bigger club than Leeds, and it seems Liverpool are making him one of their top targets, according to El Nacional.
Their report claims that the Reds are prepared to pay around €40m for Phillips, but Leeds might block the move as they’d prefer to sell the 26-year-old abroad.
Phillips is said to be tempted by the prospect of moving to Liverpool, but El Nacional claim he could also be interested in accepting offers from potential suitors such as Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain.
In truth, although Phillips is a fine player, LFC might be better off leaving this one and continuing with their priority of Borussia Dortmund wonderkid Jude Bellingham.
As CaughtOffside reported earlier in the week, Bellingham is a top target for Liverpool, and there is confidence that the 18-year-old can be lured to Anfield over other elite European clubs.
While Bellingham would no doubt be more expensive than Phillips, he’d also be more of a long-term option for the club to build around, so would probably represent a better investment overall.
Phillips is also a quality player, but Bellingham looks to be a level above that and it seems pointless getting into a potentially sticky transfer saga with Leeds if it’s true that they’d much rather sell their star player abroad.