Liverpool have been linked to superstars Kylian Mbappe and Jadon Sancho in a number of transfer rumors, but the reality is that neither player is in their budget. Real Madrid and Manchester United, respectively, are far more likely transfer destinations for that duo, which means if the Reds want to make another addition to their front line, they should look for alternatives.
Here are five players with the quality worth being Liverpool transfer targets. The club still may not be able to sign these men, but they are at least more affordable than Sancho and Mbappe while still potentially being significant assets to the Reds.
Leeds RW Raphinha
It isn’t easy to find top-class right wingers, and Liverpool have one of the world’s absolute best in Mohamed Salah. But if they want to supplement him with another option who can also play on the left side if needed, then Raphinha is indeed a player worth targeting.
Raphinha has already been linked to the club and proved in 2020-2021 that he has the quality to be a great Premier League winger. Of course, he was a standout before joining Leeds, but the confirmation of his quality in the same league is an added bonus.
The 24-year-old scored six goals with nine assists for Leeds after joining from Rennes, where he scored a goal with two assists to start the season. So in total, he had 18 goal contributions between both leagues.
Raphinha averaged 1.9 dribbles completed and 2.1 key passes per game in the Premier League, per WhoScored.com. Those are tremendous numbers and indicative of the quality he can bring to Liverpool in 2021-2022 if he were signed.
Stuttgart ST Sasa Kalajdzic
Sasa Kalajdzic is a player I highlighted as a possible transfer target for Liverpool in an earlier piece, and I would like to give him another spotlight here as a potential striker option for the Reds if they decide to go in this direction as opposed to another winger. That’s considering they signed Diogo Jota last summer from Wolves, and he has shown he can be worth every penny.
An underrated commodity in the Bundesliga who is overshadowed by the likes of Erling Haaland and Jadon Sancho among young standouts up top, Kalajdzic had a wonderful season in Stuttgart’s return to Germany’s top flight.
Liverpool will get a chance to watch Kalajdzic up close for the Austrian national team this summer in the Euros, and it would be wise for Jurgen Klopp and the front office to get their foot in the door early if they are interested in the 23-year-old, who is a sneaky candidate to be the breakout star of the European Championships.
Kalajdzic scored a whopping 16 goals with 5 assists in the Bundesliga for Stuttgart. And for Austria, he scored thrice in three games during World Cup qualifying matches, which is a strong hint at the Euros to come.
If Liverpool want an additional goal-scoring option, Kalajdzic is very much worth a look.
Rennes RW Jeremy Doku
A former Rennes right winger should be on Liverpool’s transfer radar, as Raphinha has been tremendous for Leeds in 2020-2021. But the current star on the right side of Rennes’ attack should likewise be a transfer target for the Reds.
Jeremy Doku is one of the most skilled dribblers on this planet. Austrian striker Sasa Kalajdzic is someone to watch closely at this year’s European Championships, but the Belgian Doku is actually my pick to be the young player who boosts his transfer value the most this summer.
Whenever I watch Belgium, I am in awe at Doku’s ability to create. He is a headline-maker who is going to captivate the audience with his skill and energy. Doku makes positive decisions and stands to be a key assist-provider for Golden Boot candidate Romelu Lukaku, who is coming off a Serie A MVP season. And if Eden Hazard and Kevin de Bruyne have injury issues, Doku stands to get more spotlight.
At Rennes this past season, the 19-year-old had five total goal contributions, totaling the same number in much fewer matches with Anderlecht in his country. He averaged a staggering 3.7 dribbles completed per game with more than two fouls drawn per game and nearly 1.5 key passes per contest for Rennes.
Doku has world-class potential, and Liverpool should not lose sight of him this summer.
Fiorentina ST Dusan Vlahovic
Dusan Vlahovic is another striker I’ve discussed before as a possible transfer target for Liverpool, and he is worth discussing again and again because of his quality. World-class strikers are the hottest commodity in football, and Vlahovic showed some jaw-dropping quality in the second half of the 2020-2021 Serie A season/
Vlahovic’s expected price tag of over 50 million euros makes him unrealistic for Liverpool, as that would pretty much be their full budget. And they have areas of need in midfield with Georginio Wijnaldum heading to either Barcelona or PSG.
If Liverpool can sign Vlahovic either this summer or next summer, then they should seriously investigate a move, even with Roberto Firmino still playing well as the all-action No. 9 between Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah.
Vlahovic scored 21 goals with 3 assists in the 2020-2021 Serie A season, going on a hot streak for the ages before the season ended. He scored goals against giants, too, as this was not a case of a young striker beating up on inferior competition. His upside his scary, and he should not be overshadowed on the transfer market by names like Erling Haaland. Vlahovic is very much a future superstar in his own right.
Wolfburg LM/RM Josip Brekalo
The final forward worth watching this summer is another man from the Bundesliga who was a key part of an impressive side in Germany’s top flight. And Josip Brekalo was actually spotlighted earlier by my colleague Bence Bocsak.
Brekalo isn’t one of those players who blows you away like a Dusan Vlahovic or Jeremy Doku, but he’s a very solid player who was as versatile as they come for a third-place Wolfsburg side. The 22-year-old is progressing quickly at this stage of his career and was adept on both the left and right-hand sides of the formation, working hard to support the chance-creation for the likes of star striker Wout Weghorst.
The Croatian wide midfielder averaged 1.3 key passes per game and was a quality creator for Wolfsburg. But he was also a good finisher, scoring seven goals of his own to help a defensive team obtain an additional attacking spark out wide.
Brekalo could be an affordable, talented role player for Liverpool in the immediate future with the upside to grow into something more. He’s the kind of talent Jurgen Klopp likes to pluck, and he has the energy and ethos to fit the mentality that Klopp and Liverpool would like to see out of a young player in their squad. With the likes of Xherdan Shaqiri and Alex Oxlade Chamberlain expected to leave this summer, someone like Brekalo becomes more appealing.