‘Entered the race’: Sky journo confirms £50.1m transfer development impacting Liverpool | OneFootball

Liverpool may be forced to step up their interest in Hugo Larsson should they not wish to see him join a Premier League rival this summer.

Manchester City are understood to have ‘entered the race’ for the 20-year-old midfielder ahead of the upcoming summer transfer window, according to Florian Plettenberg.

The Merseysiders are understood to be prepared to add to their midfield ranks, however, the club has clear priorities in the forward and defensive lines that must be addressed first.

Liverpool are monitoring Hugo Larsson

(Photo by Alex Grimm/Getty Images)

Arne Slot’s side are still reportedly keeping tabs on the Frankfurt star alongside Arsenal and Tottenham.

However, Plettenberg’s latest update on the Sweden star on X (formerly Twitter) will have no doubt complicated our hopes of completing a deal.

A figure of, at minimum, £50.1m (as corroborated by Christian Falk) for a 20-year-old coming out of the Bundesliga does also feel a little steep – potentially terminally so for Liverpool’s recruitment team.

What would the Bundesliga star bring to our midfield?

It’s worth emphasising from the off that Larsson would very much represent a project buy for Richard Hughes and Co.

His statistical profile on FBref hardly indicates that Liverpool would be signing a player ready to take the Premier League by storm.

His goalscoring prowess particularly stands out – ranking in the 93rd and 80th percentiles for non-penalty goals and non-penalty xG respectively – but Arne Slot is sure to be left frowning at his numbers elsewhere.

At the very least, his use of the ball does seem comparable to his potential peers at L4.

* Stats (per 90) courtesy of FBref

We do like the prior comparisons we’ve heard to two Manchester City stalwarts in Rodri and Kevin De Bruyne, too – but it’s abundantly clear that Hugo Larsson is a way off from searching such lofty heights.

Given that we’re seeing Harvey Elliott really struggle for minutes despite putting in some consistently impressive showings from the bench, we know for a fact the bar’s going to be high for any incoming midfielder.

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