Super agent Mino Raiola is attempting to use Liverpool to force a £61 million transfer for Lorenzo Insigne out of Napoli in Serie A.
When you’re one of the hottest teams in Europe it comes with some upsides in the transfer market; players want to join you and clubs have less leverage to charge high fees. However, a Liverpool are finding out, there is also some downsides.
Top teams are often used by agents and players to negotiate big transfer deals or huge contracts at their current clubs. Lorenzo Insigne is falling into that category with the help of ruthless super agent Mino Raiola.
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There was a report that Liverpool made a £61 million bid for Insigne in the last transfer window and they are lining up a summer move. These reports are clearly false and likely to be generated by Raiola himself.
The idea is to use the knowledge that Liverpool will be in the market for an attacker in the summer – Timo Werner is the most likely target – to stir up other transfer interest from other clubs. The worst case scenario for them is that it forces Napoli to give him a bumper contract.
There have been reports of genuine interest about Insigne but it is hard to believe given the transfer polices under FSG.
While we know they are willing to splash the cash – Alisson Becker and Virgil van Dijk prove that – they tend to go for younger players who are entering into the prime of their career.
Insigne will be 28 at the start of next season – close to the age where you see a drop off in attackers. With no chance of recouping the transfer fee later on, and question marks about how many prime years he has left, I see no way the Reds move on for him for a huge fee.
Raiola has a history of moving his players around for his own financial benefit. The Reds have some experience of that after he was instrumental in Mario Balotelli coming to Anfield for a horrific spell.
The combination of Raiola and the dubious source of this rumor makes me think there is absolutely nothing to the story.