Liverpool's pursuit of 19-goal attacker heats up - EOTK Insider issues exclusive update on Malen 👀

Liverpool's involvement could very well throw a spanner in the works

Liverpool and Borussia Dortmund are reportedly said to be neck and neck in the race for Donyell Malen’s signature this summer.

Following up on yesterday’s update, EOTK Insider can exclusively reveal that Dortmund are currently leading the race to sign the Dutch international, though (and it’s a big though), Liverpool’s interest could throw a spanner into the works.

“To be honest, I think at the moment Dortmund has the biggest chance to sign Malen,” PSV insider Rik Elfrink told EOTK Insider. “But what I heard is that Liverpool is interested too and maybe it changes things.”

According to a source close to the centre-forward’s club, PSV, the Eredivisie outfit will request a fee in the region of €30 million for their star man’s services.

The 22-year-old attacker attracted attention with his prolific campaign in the Netherlands, registering 27 goal contributions (19 goals, 8 assists) in 32 league appearances last term.

Given how hard at work the rumour mill has been in churning out speculation around the former Arsenal prospect, we were intrigued to find out more about what makes the Liverpool-linked striker tick from the Eindhovens Dagblad journalist’s perspective.

“His biggest force is his pace in the first meters,” Elfrink added.

“Even when he was a very young player at Arsenal, he was one of the most fast players in the group on the first meters. I think even top 3.

“He already proved he can play on the highest level.

“In December 2019 an injury was there because of bad luck. His leg landed wrong after a duel and he had to recover for 6-7 months. I believe he is fully back from that now.

“Last season he could have done better, but it was not a bad season for him with a lot of goals in the Dutch League and Europa League matches.”

Speed will certainly appeal to Jurgen Klopp but what makes the link even more interesting are the elements of his game that bear similarities to that of Roberto Firmino.

The forward’s ability to drag defenders out of position to create space for his teammates to exploit certainly SCREAMS of the Brazilian’s style of play.

Add an eye for goal on top of that and you’re looking at a potentially jaw-dropping addition to the front-three.

So, how much would Malen set us back?

“The price PSV wants by minimum is I think between 30 and 35 million euros,” the reporter stated.

The valuation touted tracks well with the prior asking price uncovered from an EOTK Insider source and hardly seems insurmountable for the club, even in light of the financial hit taken from the COVID-19 pandemic.

At the current point time, the exact scope of Liverpool’s transfer kitty isn’t exactly common knowledge, though even a worst-case scenario with regard to our spending power suggests we’ll still be more than capable of meeting PSV’s demands.

There’s the tricky obstacle of super agent Mino Raiola to overcome, of course, with the Italy-born Dutchman far from being a pushover.

That being said, we’ve no doubt Raiola will potentially have his hands full with our recruitment team and the transfer man-mountain that is Michael Edwards.

If it’s a deal that we genuinely wish to get over the line and our interest could change things, as Elfrink has suggested, Liverpool shouldn’t bat an eye at €30-35 million.

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