Germany star likely to emerge as Liverpool’s new top target

Jonathan Tah: Liverpool target

Liverpool are considering rekindling their interest in Bayer Leverkusen defender Jonathan Tah after ending their chase for Southampton’s Virgil van Dijk.

The Reds issued a public apology and announced the end of their chase for the Saints defender on Wednesday evening, and though reports suggest a deal could be resurrected, it’s believed the deal is completely dead.

As such, Liverpool have been scouring the market for alternatives – and one such report on Thursday morning suggested Lazio’s Stefan de Vrij has been identified.

However, both the Liverpool Echo and the Independent have suggested Jurgen Klopp could instead switch attention back towards Tah, the player he was first linked with back in January.

The 21-year-old is known as the one of Bundesliga’s best young players and would cost considerably less than Virgil van Dijk would have done.

The player discussed his links to Liverpool back in January, but said at the time:  “I am very happy at Bayer Leverkusen. I don’t want to leave.”

“We have reached the last 16 in the Champions League, and if somebody wants to call it a stepping stone, I can only say: You can’t ask for much more.”

READ MORE: How Jurgen Klopp’s top 5 targets can lift Liverpool

Tah went on to say: “It’s clear that I want to play in the Champions League. We need to play a good Ruckrunde (second half of the season) to reach this goal. I still have the expectation and the conviction that we will play in Europe next season.”

Unfortunately for Tah and Leverkusen, the club fell badly short in their efforts to return to European competition after finishing a disappointing 12th and just four points clear of relegation.

The defender has won three caps for Germany, but is very much seen as a regular in the future and is currently valued at around €25million.