Liverpool will continue their policy of signing young players and this time they are willing to go across the border and sign another German midfielder who has become one of Hannover’s most important players this season.
Liverpool seem to be lining up a move to sign Leonardo Bittencourt, the German U21 player has shone for Hannover 96 this season and could be moving to the Merseyside club in the January window. Liverpool did seem to have gotten a great deal when they signed another German midfielder Emre Can from Bayer Leverkusen at the start of the season.
Can has become one of Liverpool’s best players this season with a string of impressive performances as a centre back. Bittencourt has been on Liverpool’s radar for quite a while and the club has sent scouts to see his game. Bittencourt joined Hannover from Borussia Dortmund in 2013 and has scored one goal and provided 2 assists in 16 appearances for the Hannover based side.
According to the German paper Bild, the player is signed up to Hannover till 2017 but the problem will be signing the player as Bittencourt’s old club have a buy back clause in his contract. Liverpool have looked much better ever since changing to a 3-4-3 formation and Bittencourt can be seen as another player in Can’s role and would be an ideal replacement for Lucas Leiva.
Liverpool were knocked out of the League Cup after a 1-0 loss to Chelsea after extra time in the 2nd leg. The ramifications of a tough game were still being felt as Diego Costa was charged by the FA for a stamp on Emre Can which the referee for the game missed. Costa has been charged and if found guilty he would be banned for 3 games which would mean he would miss the City clash.
The buyback clause for Bittencourt is around £2.25 million which could rise to around £4.5 million and Liverpool would have to fight hard with Dortmund if they are to try and sign the talented German U 21 player.
Picture courtesy: Kicker.de