Liverpool can solve Jadon Sancho and Kai Havertz transfer jigsaw

Since winning the Champions League back in June, there’s been a clamour amongst Reds fans to see the club secure a big-name signing.

From Kylian Mbappe to Jadon Sancho to German youngster Kai Havertz, they’ve all been in the conversation.

A move though for England international Sancho, could make sense, according to German football expert Kevin Hatchard.

Following a frugal summer with Liverpool only parting with cash for youngsters Sepp van den Berg and Harvey Elliott, along with the free transfers of Adrian and Andy Lonergan, Liverpool could look to spend big next summer.

Sancho is a player who’s been linked with a move to Anfield, having impressed during his stint in the Bundesliga as well as with Gareth Southgate’s England squad.

And while Havertz has also been rumoured to be interesting the powers that be at Liverpool in the past, a move for Sancho could unravel somewhat of a transfer-deadlock in Jurgen Klopp’s homeland.

20-year-old Havertz is expected to move on at the end of the current season, having helped Bayer Leverkusen into this season’s Champions League, as Hatchard explains.

"He’s one of the most exciting players, potentially of his generation, not just in Germany but in European football,” he said on a special Blood Red podcast to be released on Saturday (October 12).

"He scored lots and lots of goals in the Bundesliga last season, he scores all types of goals, he has a great awareness of what’s around him.

"All of the top clubs would want to sign him, we’re talking about definitely Bayern, who have been very strongly interested in him for quite some time.

"There’s been a lot of talk in Germany, this season, about Borussia Dortmund being interested because his best friend, Julian Brandt, already plays for Dortmund. I imagine there have been a few comments and conversations between the two of them.

"Marco Reus has said he’s a player Dortmund would love to sign, which is probably something he shouldn’t have said, but there we go and there has been some talk that if Jadon Sancho were to leave Dortmund in the summer for huge money a lot of that money could be diverted to signing Havertz."

Hatchard added: "I had been told a while ago was he wasn’t necessarily a player on Liverpool’s list right now but if you look at his continued development it’ll be interesting to see if Liverpool would go for him.”

So while a move for Havertz may not quite be on the cards, Dortmund, should their interest in the youngster be concrete, could need to free up some cash to land him.

Which is where a move for Sancho could come into play and is something Hatchard says could make sense for all parties - despite only signing a new £190,000-a-week contract in August.

"Jadon Sancho is a player Dortmund had no interest in whatsoever in selling in the summer just gone,” he said. “That was quite clear from the get-go.

"All the links with Manchester United, although United were very much interested in him, they were wide of the mark as he was never going to go in the summer.

"That situation is not necessarily going to be the same next summer.”

He continued: "Hans-Joachim Watzke, who’s the CEO, has already indicated that they don’t think they can keep Sancho in the long-term.

"So, if the money was right and Sancho was willing to come back to the Premier League I would expect Liverpool to be in that market.”

The move may not be plain sailing for the Reds though as the winger would be after certain guarantees over his place in the starting XI.

"The tricky thing is going to be is how do you convince him that he would have a genuine chance of being in the Liverpool line-up because Mo Salah operates in the position he does,” said Hatchard.

"Sancho is very much on the right of a front three, so that would be a big decision for him to make.

"This is the tricky thing for Liverpool, because that front three is so clearly defined and so consistent and so durable, they’ve missed so few games between them how do you then convince a top, top player they’ve got a chance of being involved.

"That’s maybe where Jurgen Klopp comes in with his ability to talk players round and persuade players that that’s the move for them.

"Financially I think Liverpool could be in the mix for him, it’ll be interesting to see if that’s a move they pursuit.

"It may happen next summer, it may happen the summer after that it might depend on how close Dortmund come to winning the Meisterschale this season.

"I think at some stage we’ll see Jadon Sancho back in England."

Source: Liverpool Echo

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