While the world of football is mostly focusing on the world cup and international matches, clubs are still in the spotlight thanks to their transfer actions and aspirations. The latest ones people are interested in? Manchester City trying to sign Jorginho from Napoli and Liverpool trailing Xherdan Shaqiri who just went down with Stoke.
The Brazilian-born Italy international has been one of the Serie A’s most consistent and impressive central midfielders in the past 5 seasons. While playing for Hellas Verona he attracted attention from the likes of Liverpool as he was still in Serie B, but after Napoli snatched him in the middle of the 2013-2014 season in a co-ownership deals, rumors subsided. Until now.
There seems to be an active back and forth between Napoli and City over Jorginho, reports suggesting Napoli are holding out for £60 million, a price the Premier League champions aren’t willing to pay, which may lead them to turn their attention elsewhere: Mateo Kovacic of Real Madrid, Mario Lemina of Southampton, all while Riyad Mahrez of Leicester City could be arriving regardless.
Still wiping the tears from their loss to Real Madrid in the Champions League, Liverpool might take advantage of Stoke’s relegation and sign one of their best players – Swiss international Shaqiri, who is in the squad to the World Cup for the third time in his career.
The 26-year old, once one of Europe’s most exciting young talents, finished with 8 league goals in 2017-2018 as Stoke went down after 10 consecutive EPL seasons. After failing to leave his mark at Bayern Munich and Inter, joining a Champions League side with title aspirations could be a way for Shaqiri to signal he can still be part of Europe’s top level clubs.
The multinational forward is reported to be rather not too difficult to sign, with a release clause of £12 million the only thing in the way of anyone purchasing him. Right now, Liverpool, looking to add depth behind their talented attacking trio, are the most serious suitor.