Six clubs want £20 million midfielder

Six clubs want Liverpool midfielder Marko Grujic.

The midfielder has spent the last two years on loan to Bundesliga side Hertha Berlin and doesn’t seem to have a future at Anfield.

TeamTalk have reported that Liverpool are willing to let the Serbian leave for around £20 million – which should attract attention from his army of suitors.

Hertha are joined by German sides Eintracht Frankfurt and Borussia Monchengladbach in registering their interest in Marko Grujic, while Serie A outfit Atalanta will be joined in the fight for his signature by Premier League sides Aston Villa and Crystal Palace.

With six clubs wanting to bring the 24-year-old in, there should be no shortage of offers that hit sporting director Michael Edwards’ asking price.

That sale could help raise the funds required to bring in Thiago Alcantara from Bayern Munich, who is highly sought-after at Anfield.

Fresh insight from Independent journalist Melissa Reddy indicates that Thiago will only be signed if Jurgen Klopp can clear out some of his midfield clutter, and selling Grujic would be a good place to start.

Despite being Klopp’s first signing, the Serbian has never looked likely to break into the first team squad and has only made 14 appearances for Liverpool.

He’s now had three different loan spells away. The first was to Cardiff City in the Championship, where he looked good during his 14 games with the Bluebirds. That was followed by the extremely well received two years in Berlin.

51 Bundesliga appearances later and Liverpool have a player who can fetch up to £20 million in the market, which isn’t bad for an initial investment of just £6.30 million.

The club have also managed to recoup loan fees worth £3.6 million from Cardiff and Hertha – more than half of what they paid Red Star for Grujic in the first place.

Even if he can’t come back and add to those 14 Liverpool appearances, you have to consider this to be a successful first deal for Klopp at Anfield.