Liverpool want to sign two Turkish second tier players.
Giriş Tarihi wrote in Yeni Asir that Liverpool are keen on Ravil Tagir and Burak Ince, who play in the Turkish second division for Altinordu.
The Express picked up the story, and their journalist Jamie Anderson said that a £6.6 million offer could be in the works.
17-year-old Tagir is a central defender and has played 26 games in 1. Lig this season, featuring over 2,000 minutes and scoring one goal.
Burak Ince is only 16-year-old plays as a central midfielder and has already amassed 16 appearances, with two goals and one assist.
Despite their youth, both have played an important part in Altinordu’s season and that’s highly impressive. They’ve also featured for Turkey’s age group sides and look to have a good pedigree behind them.
Altinordu are prepared to sell their starlets, but they’d have to stay in Turkey until they reach 18-years-old and can qualify for a work permit. Club president Seyit Mehmet Ozkan has said it’s the club’s ambition to see their players reach the Premier League.
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"The Express reported that he said: “It is our first goal to watch the footballers we train in the Premier League.”"
We’ve seen that Liverpool are always keen to improve the quality of the Academy and that’s resulted in deals for Sepp van den Berg, Ki-Jana Hoever and Harvey Elliott over recent years.
They are also good at using their knowledge of opposition set ups and bagged Isaac Christie-Davies from Chelsea and Joe Hardy from Brentford, as well as Dominic Solanke from the Blues a few years ago.
£6.6 million is a fair amount to splash out for two teenagers with no top flight experience, although the amount they’ve featured for their side at such a young age tends to be a good signpost for their quality.
Georginio Wijnaldum is back to the negotiating table as terms of his new contract are being thrashed out, while Virgil van Dijk could be in line for a blockbuster deal.
That could empty the cash reserves.
Ravil Tagir and Burak Ince may yet turn out to be the next Anthony Le Tallac or Florent Sinama Pongolle.
Is this the best use of Liverpool’s money right now, or should they be looking towards first team ready players?