Liverpool make contact for Olympics star who’d succeed best Klopp signing, as Prem quintet chase defender turning back on Slot

Liverpool have reportedly activated their pursuit of a new defender after making contact with an Argentine club to discuss the signing of full-back Julio Soler – although it is one of their centre-halves being mostly linked with an exit.

Soler, 19, has just been playing for Argentina at the men’s football tournament in the Paris Olympics. His call-up came on the back of his emergence with Lanus, who have now been told that Liverpool are interested in their player.

This is according to a report by Alan Nixon, who has revealed that Liverpool believe Soler has the potential to be a long-term successor for Andy Robertson.

At present, Robertson’s only deputy is Kostas Tsimikas, who at just two years younger than the Scotland captain is unlikely to ever take over as Liverpool’s frequent first choice.

Now, Liverpool are looking to the future and have identified Soler as a target. The asking price for Lanus to let him go is said to be in the region of £13m.

The report affirms that Liverpool would be able to afford that price. However, they are yet to make progress on convincing Soler – who already has 36 appearances for Lanus – to join. When that time comes, they will have to be persuasive about their long-term vision, since Robertson will remain their main left-back at least for this season.

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The value for money Liverpool got out of their £8m investment in the former Hull City man made him arguably the best signing of the Jurgen Klopp era. He should continue to be important under Arne Slot too, thanks to his attacking contributions.

Soler, for what it’s worth, also has attacking qualities from the full-back position that have caught Liverpool’s attention. It could set him up to be a suitable replacement for 30-year-old Robertson when the time comes for that evolution.

But, as stressed, this is a long-term project for Liverpool and there is no sign yet that Robertson could leave the club this summer. For one of his fellow long-serving defenders, though, an exit is being talked about.

Liverpool defender set to turn back on Slot

Joe Gomez is the player in question after falling down the pecking order in his preferred position of centre-back in recent years. In fact, at times when Robertson and Tsimikas were unavailable last summer, Gomez sometimes deputised at left-back himself, despite being right-footed.

Liverpool are hoping to invest in a new, dominant partner for Virgil van Dijk at centre-back this summer. They are interested in players like Crystal Palace’s Marc Guehi and Juventus’ Gleison Bremer, either of whom would also be above Gomez in the hierarchy.

It means Gomez, despite making it into England’s Euro 2024 squad in the summer, may be on the lookout for escape routes. And according to HITC, plenty are open.

The report claims five Premier League clubs are interested in taking Gomez away from Liverpool. Three of them are based in London: Brentford, Crystal Palace and West Ham United.

Gomez was born in Catford, Greater London, so any of those moves would be taking him back closer to home.

However, he also has admirers at Aston Villa – who have Champions League football on offer, just like Liverpool – and Newcastle United.

Earlier in the transfer window, there were rumours of Gomez being sent to Newcastle as a counterpart for Anthony Gordon, who is one of Liverpool’s main winger targets.

The report does not reveal which of those five clubs would be most likely to sign Gomez as things stand, but it does explain that the 27-year-old is ‘ready’ to look for a move, despite new boss Slot being ‘open’ to him staying.

With no guarantee of heavy involvement, Gomez would rather try and find somewhere he could play more regularly, especially since he is at an age which many consider to be a footballer’s prime.

The former Charlton defender has been at Liverpool since 2015, making 224 appearances in that time. He was the only senior player to both be at Liverpool before Klopp and stay after him, but whether he sticks around in time to actually play under Slot is up for question.

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