Liverpool target warned AGAINST joining Reds this summer
Cameron Smith
- 21 Aug 2023 12:12 BST
- 4 min read
Liverpool target Johan Bakayoko has been warned off moving to Anfield by Eredivisie legend Wim Kieft, who believes he isn’t ready for a move of that magnitude.
Bakayoko, 20, enjoyed a breakthrough campaign at PSV Eindhoven last season and has been linked with a move to the Premier League as a result.
Burnley and Everton have registered interest in landing the Belgian international, but Liverpool are also keeping a keen eye on his performances in the Netherlands.
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The Reds have experience dealing with PSV as they purchased Cody Gakpo from the Eredivisie side in January. However, Kieft doesn’t think that Bakayoko should follow his former team-mate to Anfield just yet.
Writing in his column for De Telegraaf, Kieft said: “Why (sign him) now? Because you think you can pick him up now for €20m or €25m rather than €60m in two years?
Kieft, who won the 1988 European Cup with PSV, added: “Bakayoko has qualities as a right winger. But, in the Premier League, something different is asked than against FC Utrecht or Sturm Graz. Liverpool at this stage of his career…”
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Bakayoko to leave PSV?
Both Burnley and Everton are interested in Bakayoko, according to transfer experts Fabrizio Romano and Sacha Tavolieri, while Dutch journalist Rik Elfrink has reported that Liverpool have enquired about the possibility of signing the winger.
Bakayoko scored seven goals and provided seven assists in all competitions for PSV’s senior side last season, with the Belgian coming into the first-team fray following the January exits of Noni Madueke to Chelsea and Gakpo to Liverpool.
Paris Saint-Germain have also previously been interested in the 20-year-old, as revealed by Bakayoko himself. “I didn’t find it very surprising that PSG wanted me,” he told ELF Voetbal after the Parisians failed with a January offer.
“I may not have been very well known to the general public before the World Cup. But I know what I can do and also where my qualities lie.”
