Reds have stepped up their pursuit of Emre Can…
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Liverpool are closing in on Bayer Leverkusen’s young German Under-21 international Emre Can, and could announce a deal in the coming weeks, reports the Mirror.
The Reds want to wrap up a transfer as soon as possible, so as consecutive Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich don’t activate their buy-back-clause which they inserted into Can’s contract.
Bayern sold the 20-year-old last summer, but because of his exceptional talent, only agreed to a permanent transfer with a clause fixed in his contract.
However, the good news for Liverpool is that Pep Guardiola’s side cannot activate the clause until 2015, meaning this summer, the Reds have a free run at the midfielder who has captained his country at various youth levels.
Last term, Can started to fulfil his undeniable talent. He made 29 Bundesliga appearances, scoring and assisting three goals apiece – and impressing everyone with his versatility and composure on the ball.
He prefers to play in a deep-lying anchorman role, but can also do a job at left-back, or even in central defence.
Central midfield is his best position though, meaning if he were to arrive at Anfield, he’d enable Brendan Rodgers to rest his brilliant, but ageing skipper, Steven Gerrard.
Like Can, Gerrard anchors his side, taking advantage of the space at the base of midfield to spray long diagonal balls around the park.
With Liverpool keen to strengthen before their Champions League campaign next term, Can seems like the perfect Rodgers signing.
Not only is he very young and only likely to improve – but he has all the attributes the Northern Irish manager demands from his players. He’s technically excellent, prefers to keep possession at all costs, and has the creative ability to make something happen out of nothing. What’s more – Can is defensively able, and provides his sides with an excellent base from the which the rest of the players can perform.
The Reds already have Gerrard, Jordan Henderson, Joe Allen and Lucas to choose from in centre-midfied, but with the manager preferring to play three in the middle, four top notch options is not really enough.
Can is rated at £10m, which if he fulfils his potential, will be a real Merseyside bargain.
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