Footie Central | Football Blog Blogging the football world
Liverpool have identified an alternative in case Georginio Wijnaldum decides to leave the club next summer.
The 30-year-old Dutchman is in the final year of his contract, and has been widely linked with a move to Barcelona and a reunion with his former national team manager Ronald Koeman. The Spanish club will be able to begin pre-contract negotiations when the transfer window opens in two weeks’ time.
Liverpool still have hopes he will agree to a contract extension, although talks currently remain deadlocked.
However, in the event that he does decide to move on, they now have identified a contingency in the form of Renato Sanches, currently playing for Lille in Ligue 1.
Th Portugal international won the Golden Boy award for the Best Young Player in Europe when he was at Benfica, earning him a major move to Bayern Munich. That did not work out, nor did an equally ill-fated loan spell with Swansea City.
However, he has since matured and was named in the Ligue 1 team of the year after an impressive first season with Lille.
Andy is an exiled English football fan living in Cyprus. He loves all sports but football is his abiding passion, and he still has dreams every now and then about scoring the winning goal in a Wembley Cup Final, even though his playing days are long gone. He follows most major leagues, across Europe at least, and has a favoured team in each. When he’s not watching, listening, reading or downloading podcasts about football, he spend his time worrying about his beloved Arsenal.