Liverpool and Newcastle given renewed hope in pursuit of exciting World Cup-winning star
With Liverpool having slightly dropped off of the pace at the top of the Premier League and Newcastle in desperate need of points at the opposite end of the English top-flight, both teams have logical reasons why a strategic purchase or two would do wonders for their current status.
Unbelievably, the Reds could find themselves 12 points behind leaders, Manchester City, before they take on Chelsea in a New Year Super Sunday spectacular.
It’s hard to believe that Pep Guardiola’s side will drop that many points between now and the end of the season, albeit Liverpool will need to beat both Brentford and Arsenal first in order to double the current six-point gap.
Eddie Howe will have been delighted with how his Newcastle side performed against Manchester United last time out, and with a little extra quality in the big moments, that’s a game that the Magpies could’ve won.
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Barcelona’s Ousmane Dembele is certainly a player who could add something to either Premier League outfit.
It was thought that the French World Cup winner had decided to stay at the Catalan club, particularly when he hinted at the same by releasing a picture of the Barca crest on his Instagram stories feed.
However, Mundo Deportivo report that despite everything seeming positive at Barca’s end, the player is still stalling on signing his new deal, knowing that in a few days time he is free to negotiate with other clubs.
One of those is expected to be Liverpool after the Reds were linked with Dembele by Mundo Deportivo, cited by the Daily Mail.
In a separate Mundo Deportivo report, Newcastle are alleged to be offering €15m per year (around £12.7m) in salary, as well as a €15m signing bonus.
It may be that any signing doesn’t actually take place until the summer when Dembele would be available for free.
As much as Barcelona would seem reticent to let him leave, if that scenario looked likely to occur, it’s almost certain that they would want to move the Frenchman on in January in order to get a fee for him as well as freeing up some space in club coffers.
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