If Liverpool don't buy Raphinha it WON'T be for the reason one ex-Leeds star is suggesting 🤔

Two major club trophies in three years and Jurgen Klopp... what's not to love about Liverpool?

David Norris has tipped Premier League star Raphinha to turn down any interested parties in the summer window and remain with Leeds United.

Jurgen Klopp is reportedly keen on bolstering his current options in the forward line, with the 24-year-old on the list of potential transfer targets.

“He loves it there and the fans love him,” the former Leeds star said.

“He’s come out publicly and said that and also from people I’ve spoken to and the fans, they all seem to love him.

“So, that’ll be a relief for them and obviously things can change but considering he’s come out publicly like that you’d be surprised if he then ends up leaving.”

How many players in world football have claimed as much before jumping ship at the first sign of a big move?

Not everyone is spurred by the first sign of gold however, and, in some cases, loyalty isn’t entirely dead and buried.

Certainly, with a manager like Marcelo Bielsa at the helm, and a number of talented (if not quite world-beating) teammates, Leeds are a side on the up.

The question is: how much of an ‘up’?

The jump from the West Yorkshire outfit to Liverpool remains considerable, with Leeds a far cry still from their prior glory years.

As such, the Brazilian could certainly be forgiven for at least considering our rumoured interest.

With Liverpool set to lose key men in Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah to the African Cup of Nations at the start of 2022, the need for a new forward could not be more paramount.

Even without the tournament hanging as a not-too-distant omen in the future, Jurgen Klopp’s men could still do with an upgrade on his current backup options.

Excluding summer signing Diogo Jota, who has already demonstrated his readiness to step up to the plate, the likes of Xherdan Shaqiri and Divock Origi have looked far from convincing.

We’re reminded of the Belgian’s one-on-one with Burnley shotstopper Nick Pope, a moment that should have led to a demolishing of Sean Dyche’s Lancashire outfit rather than the end of our 68-game home unbeaten streak and precipitating a disastrous run of form at Anfield that would effectively end our title retention hopes.

Wow. Those were some dark days…

With the grand total of zero league goals shared between Shaqiri and Origi, neither player exactly fills us with confidence ahead of Salah and Mane’s inevitable (though thankfully short-term) departure in January.

Theoretically, if two of our prestigious front-three went all the way in the AFCON, we could be without both of our main goal sources for almost a month, at which point our title hopes could very well be all over.

As things currently stand, we can’t see Jurgen Klopp echoing last summer’s major transfer mistake (in which the club failed to reinforce our defensive options) by heading into another campaign without a new forward to call upon.

The main snag in the plan, of course, is Raphinha’s asking price, which will more than likely be far in excess of the £27m fee touted by Transfermarkt, potentially higher than the £30-40m budget we’d imagine (as a best-case scenario) our recruitment team have to play with when it comes to an addition to the front-three.

Perhaps it’s a bold call but we at EOTK Insider would be surprised if Liverpool were to table an appropriate offer only to see the 24-year-old shrug in indifference at our interest.

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