Liverpool could swoop for £80 million England star

Liverpool could swoop for an £80 million England star.

The Guardian has reported that Jurgen Klopp might be interested in signing West Ham man Declan Rice in the summer.

Hopes that Liverpool could land the midfielder have been boosted by Frank Lampard’s sacking at Chelsea. Lampard was a massive admirer of Rice and made it pretty clear that he wanted to sign the 22-year-old.

Lampard wanted to sign Rice so much that it annoyed the Chelsea hierarchy, wrote talkSPORT. It may even have contributed to his downfall at Stamford Bridge. The optics of paying £80 million to buy someone who the Blues had released from their Academy when he was 14-years-old wasn’t great, either.

With Gini Wijnaldum set to leave the club at the end of the season, it’s natural that Klopp could look for a replacement for the Dutchman.

There are a number of players who could be sold from the Liverpool engine room. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Naby Keita have all underwhelmed for the past two seasons, while James Milner can’t expect to be involved heavily as he ages.

Oxlade-Chamberlain and Keita’s injury problems have been well documented, and selling the pair could raise funds to bring Rice into the club.

When FSG spend that much money, they want to be sure that the player they’re buying can take them to the next level. Would Rice be able to do that? Klopp likes the midfield to be press resistant and to move possession forward to Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold on the flanks.

Jordan Henderson and Fabinho are already elite at that, while Curtis Jones has shown that he’s got the potential and the ability to grow into that role.

At this time it appears unlikely that Liverpool would spend that much money on a functional player like Rice, rather than an area of real need.

What do you think? Should the money to spend on our midfield or should it be saved for other areas?