After agreeing a deal to sign Jeremie Frimpong, Liverpool could turn their attention to his compatriot Xavi Simons at RB Leipzig.
Arne Slot’s first summer at Liverpool was very modest — only Federico Chiesa arrived immediately to strengthen the squad left behind by Jurgen Klopp.
But now as Liverpool aim to add creativity to Slot’s side, Simons has appeared on the club’s radar, a player who is very familiar to Klopp in Germany.
Klopp is now Head of Global Soccer for Red Bull who own Leipzig, where Simons is currently playing his football.
But with Simons ready to leave Germany, there is now significant interest from Liverpool, who could target the Dutchman in the same summer as Frimpong.
Liverpool are huge admirers of Xavi Simons
TBR Football chief correspondent Graeme Bailey has explained why Liverpool are interested in Simons — who could actually be seen as a replacement for Alexander-Arnold somewhat.
Liverpool are also linked with Wirtz, however, Simons could ultimately be a much more realistic option.
Bailey said: “In the background Liverpool did do a lot of checks on Frimpong over the last few months, and interestingly they’ve done similar investigations on Xavi Simons.
“I keep coming back to Simons, they like him an awful lot and they’ve done the work on him, obviously speaking to Ryan Gravenberch.
READ MORE: How Xabi Alonso almost ruined Liverpool’s move for Jeremie Frimpong
“I’ve been told not to rule out the prospect that Liverpool’s hierarchy will have spoken to Jurgen Klopp about Simons, which I think is interesting.
“Liverpool for their part, in terms of replacing Trent, it’s not so much about just finding a right back.
“They’ve admitted in house and sources have confirmed that Liverpool feel the biggest loss in terms of Trent is his creativity.
“Therefore, they will be looking to bring a creative player in and that seems to be in the guise of maybe number 10.
“So, it’s not really a coincidence that we’re seeing them doing the work on Florian Wirtz.
“Although, I’m hearing very different things about Wirtz — I’m not sure Liverpool’s interest is as big as we think — it’s still a two-horse race for Wirtz between Real Madrid and Bayern Munich.
“Bayern expect to get him, but with Liverpool there’s a lot of players now they’re looking at to come into their midfield to give them that something extra which they haven’t really got in the squad.”
Liverpool unlikely to win Florian Wirtz race
In terms of Simons’ price tag, it’s believed that the Dutch attacking midfielder could cost around £67m this summer.
Wirtz would likely cost a lot more, and the German has had a stronger year in the Bundesliga.
However, as mentioned, Simons could be a lot more attainable for Liverpool, a midfielder who is ready to leave.
That being said, Rayan Cherki has decided to leave Lyon — another player who might be of interest to Liverpool’s decision-makers before the summer window ends.
An exciting summer for Liverpool, who will be focused on concluding a deal for Frimpong first and foremost.
