Collymore urges Liverpool to offer ‘megabucks’ for veteran keeper

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has been urged to break the bank to sign veteran Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, by Stan Collymore.

The radio pundit and former Reds forward believes Klopp needs an experienced no. 1 and has also suggested Joe Hart and Petr Cech could be options for the Anfield club.

Collymore though believes Italy legend Buffon, 40, who is out of contract at the end of the season, is the man for Klopp.

“What Liverpool need now is a top quality goalkeeper,” said Collymore, as quoted in the Daily Express.

“When people say what type of goalkeeper, whether young or old, I would say go for one with experience.

“I know Petr Cech and Joe Hart may be just beyond that period to go somewhere like Liverpool, but a goalkeeper is usually at their best around the age of thirty or beyond.

“A player like Petr Cech or Joe Hart, who has won the Premier League, can bring that experience into the dressing room.

“It’s a position that Jurgen Klopp needs to address and I think that Loris Karius and Simon Mignolet aren’t quite up to Liverpool standard, so I would expect them to be shopping in the summertime for an experienced, top quality goalkeeper.

“Gigi Buffon is talking about retiring at the end of the season. Why not go and make him a megabucks offer?

“An incredible presence, an incredible footballing icon, to walk into another great football club from Juventus and say right I’m going to have two years here, I’m going to help bring through the next goalkeeping prodigy at Liverpool, and I’m going to help them win the title, what a fitting end to a great career that would be.”

Buffon has hinted that he is ready to hang up his gloves at the end of the season after 17 years in Turin, but Juve want him to extend by 12 months.

According to Dagospia, president Andrea Agnelli wants to offer Buffon an extra year, but wants him to take a pay cut of nearly half his current salary which is worth €4.5million-a-season (£86,00o a week).

If Liverpool did try and sign Buffon, he would be on a free-transfer, but would they be willing to pay a 40-year-old around £80,000 a week?

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