Football News

Liverpool make £6.1m profit as striker with zero appearances quits Anfield

A Liverpool striker who made did not make a single first-team appearance for the club in his six years on Merseyside has sealed a £6.5million permanent exit.

Taiwo Awoniyi was continually packed off on loan after making a £400,000 switch to Anfield from the Imperial Soccer Academy in 2015. The Nigerian striker’s arrival came completely out of the blue at the time, with the player a complete unknown quantity.

Hie time with the Reds was a real struggle, however, with seven loans packed into his six years.

The 23-year-old was permitted to leave Liverpool’s pre-season training camp in Saalfelden to make the trip north to Germany, after agreeing a £6.5m move to Union Berlin. The Reds also negotiated a 10 percent sell-on clause on the deal.

Awoniyi scored five goals and added four assists in 22 appearances on loan with Union last season. He was hampered by injury, however, which curtailed his campaign somewhat.

The Bundesliga outfit are said to have beaten the likes of West Brom, Fulham, Stoke, Wolfsburg, Stuttgart and Anderlecht to his signature.

For the Reds, the sale represents a healthy £6.1m profit on the player they signed as an 18-year-old.

Awoniyi joins fringe stars Marko Grujic, Kamil Grabara and Liam Millar in recently quitting Anfield, with more set to follow.

Second-season syndrome: Leeds on a mission to avoid fates of Sheff Utd, Huddersfield, Ipswich & Reading

Liverpool in four-way battle for Chelsea starlet

Meanwhile, Liverpool and Leeds are entrenched in a four-way battle to land a Chelsea star tipped to leave Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea have become synonymous with how to successfully navigate the transfer window under financial fair play in recent years. Combined with their reputation for developing some of the world’s most exciting talent, up and coming youngsters often make their name away from the club early in their career.

Whether that be on loan like Fikayo Tomori and Mario Pasalic or on a permanent deal like Tariq Lamptey fluctuates with each case.

Three more names who could walk that familiar path are Valentino Livramento, Lewis Bate and Myles Peart-Harris.

The trio were recently reported by the Athletic to be weighing up permanent exits from Chelsea.

They are said to be stalling on contract talks and do not feature in the club’s pre-season training camp.

Now, per the Daily Mail, the queue of suitors for central midfielder Bate is beginning to take shape.

They report that Liverpool, Leeds West Ham and Southampton are all interested in acquiring the 19-year-old.

A Liverpool move would share similarities with the deal that saw Dominic Solanke switch clubs in 2017. The striker did not succeed at Anfield. Though the Reds ultimately make a tidy £16m profit after greenlighting his 2019 sale to Bournemouth.

READ MORE: Former star warns of huge mistake, urging FSG to notice Liverpool reality

 

The post Liverpool make £6.1m profit as striker with zero appearances quits Anfield appeared first on TEAMtalk.