It’s becoming more and more clear Liverpool do not plan on having Pepe Reina serve as their first team goalkeeper next season, so they’re raising the offer for Simon Mignolet of Sunderland, and according to some reports have a transfer fee agreed upon with the club.
According to SkySports, after their first offer of £8 million was rejected, Liverpool have increased the stakes by offering £11 million, agreed to by Sunderland, which will now lead the Belgian keeper to undergo a medical, and if he’s find fit for the future, his terms should be discussed next week.
Mignolet has been with Sunderland for three seasons, and over the last two has risen to one of the more promising players between the posts in the Premier League. The Black Cats had no intention to sell him, but it seems that Liverpool’s insistence over the last few weeks has been too much to push aside, and the offer eventually coming in for him being too good to refuse, especially with Mignolet looking to leave to a bigger club.
Where does this leave Pepe Reina? He’s still on contract for three more years, and despite his connections with Barcelona, no offer has been made from Barca. Furthermore, while Reina has mentioned that an offer from a big club might be a good opportunity for him to carry on, he wouldn’t mind staying at Anfield, as long as he’ll remain the first-team goalkeeper.
Meanwhile, at Barcelona, Victor Valdes has said he wants to play the remainder of his contract (one year) out before taking on another challenge in his career, which means that at the moment, there is no opening for Reina if Barcelona do decide to try and sign him. Barcelona themselves have been linked with Marc-André ter Stegen from Borussia Monchengladbach, but the remaining of Valdes does make things a bit more complicated and holds back a potential deal.