Aston Villa helped prevent Liverpool signing £20m defender, says journalist
A journalist based in France has claimed that Aston Villa played a role in Liverpool failing to acquire the services of defender Duje Caleta-Car.
The Villains secured the £14million signing of Morgan Sanson from Marseille last month.
This acquisition, journalist Jonathan Johnson claims, scuppered the chance of Liverpool signing teammate Caleta-Car.
French outlet RMC Sport reported that the Reds had submitted a £20million bid for the 24 year-old but a potential deal failed to materialise.
Johnson claims that the money Marseille acquired from the Sanson sale, as well as the funds received for Hertha Berlin-bound Nemanja Radonjić, meant that the cash-seeking Ligue 1 club had no need to sell one of their top players in the end.
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Speaking to Sky Sports News, Johnson said: “Well, obviously (Sven) Botman and Celta-Car of Lille and Marseille have been linked with Liverpool.
“I think the combination of Marseille selling Morgan Sanson to Aston Villa and loaning Radonjic to Hertha Berlin has taken care of their short-term financial packet.
“It means they can hold onto Caleta-Car for a bit longer.”
Instead, Liverpool brought in Schalke centre-half Ozan Kabak and Preston North End’s Ben Davies on deadline day.
Caleta-Car has played in all but one of Marseille’s matches so far this campaign. In all, he has already played more than 2,000 hours of football this term.
Within that time, he has scored twice and assisted another goal.
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Mane set to miss Brighton clash
Jurgen Klopp has hinted that Sadio Mane will miss Liverpool’s game with Brighton on Wednesday.
The attacker sat out the 3-1 win over West Ham on Sunday with an unspecified muscle problem.
Ahead of the game, Klopp confirmed the situation the forward is still “as it was.”
Even if deemed fit in time, it is likely that Mane will not be risked with Manchester City the opponents on Sunday.