Rumour Mongering: Liverpool Increase Domagoj Vida Bid

Either the Reds need a new third choice centre half or it’s a ploy to get Leicester and Everton to bid. We’d bet it’s the latter.

There’s been no hint from Liverpool that they have any interest in signing a centre half this summer, with Jürgen Klopp fully confident in continuing with the partnership of Virgil van Dijk and Dejan Lovren and believing he has three capable options behind them.

That hasn’t stopped the rumour mongers, though, and over the past week or so there has been a push towards linking Liverpool with Besiktas and Croatia veteran defender Domagoj Vida, with the 29-year-old coming off a stellar outing at this summer’s World Cup.

Late last week, the story was that Liverpool had made a £17.5M bid that had been rejected by Besiktas, who were said to want £30M for the defender who has spent most of his career in Ukraine with Dynamo Kyiv before making the switch to Besiktas in January.

Now, a handful of Turkish outlets are claiming a £20M bid has been made. They also claim there is interest in the player from Leicester City and Everton, and given there has been no hint of interest in Vida on the Liverpool end this could speak to the real story.

For Vida, a strong World Cup may offer the chance for a big money move relatively late in his career. And if Leicester and Everton are in fact considering a move, then name-dropping Liverpool could be useful for pushing at least one of those two clubs to bid.

Given Klopp already has Joël Matip, Ragnar Klavan, and Joe Gomez as options behind Van Dijk and Lovren, it would be a lot for Liverpool to pay for a third choice option. Vida, though, would make far more sense as a £20M-plus signing for Leicester or Everton.

Or just maybe Liverpool know Matip isn’t ever finding full fitness and they really do need a new third choice. With how quiet the club have kept their deals of late, that isn’t impossible. For now, though, Vida to Liverpool continues to seem at least unlikely.

Source: liverpooloffside.sbnation.com