Liverpool RULED OUT of race to sign €45m Bundesliga star
Cameron Smith
- 18 Oct 2023 09:29 BST
- 3 min read
Liverpool are not in talks with Borussia Monchengladbach midfielder Kouadio ‘Manu’ Kone, despite their summer-long pursuit of the 22-year-old.
Kone was on the Reds’ transfer shortlist during the most recent transfer window, as reported by FootballTransfers, but they opted to sign Dominik Szoboszlai, Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister and Wataru Endo instead.
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The France U21 international is now being tracked by Bayern Munich following Thomas Tuchel’s failed pursuits of Scott McTominay and Joao Palhinha this summer.
The Bayern boss has repeatedly stressed his desire to sign another midfielder and Kone is an option they are considering.
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Kone to Bayern?
According to Sky Germany’s Florian Plettenberg, Kone’s contract has now been extended until 2026 - after a clause was agreed in 2021 - but he will be allowed to leave Gladbach during the January window if their asking price is met.
While Fabrizio Romano has previously reported that the Bundesliga side were willing to drop their asking price to €25m after Kone remained at the club past this summer, Plettenberg has revealed they still want between €40m-50m for the Frenchman.
Furthermore, Kone expects to leave his current club by next summer at the latest, if not in January, with Bayern monitoring his form at Gladbach.
However, according to Plettenberg, Liverpool is currently not a topic for Kone and the Reds are not in discussions with the 22-year-old.
As a result, Bayern may be given a free run at signing the talented midfielder either in January or next summer.
While Gladbach want up to €45m for Kone, he possesses an Estimated Transfer Value (ETV) of just €12.3m, as per FootballTransfers’ AI-driven, in-house algorithm.
He has featured just twice in the Bundesliga this season, after a knee injury ruled him out for the first four matches of the campaign. Last year, Kone made 30 league appearances, scoring once and assisting once.
