Liverpool interested in transfer of 21-year-old talent with €100m buy-out clause - Yahoo Sports

Liverpool are reportedly interested in a potential transfer move for Atletico Madrid midfielder Pablo Barrios, though a deal won’t come cheap.

The talented 21-year-old has shown some real promise with his performances for Atletico and also for Spain at youth level, so it’s surely only a matter of time before we see him earn a big move.

According to Spanish outlet Todo Fichajes, Liverpool are stepping up their interest in Barrios, though negotiations would have to start at at least €50million, while the player has a release clause worth €100m.

Liverpool have been linked with Barrios before, and it seems speculation is really hotting up about the Spaniard, so it will be interesting to see how this story develops in the months ahead.

LFC spent big on new midfielders last summer, bringing in Alexis Mac Allister, Ryan Gravenberch, Dominik Szoboszlai and Wataru Endo after the departures of Jordan Henderson, Fabinho, Naby Keita, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and James Milner left.

Thiago Alcantara then retired this summer, so there could be room for another signing like Barrios to come in and give Arne Slot more depth in the middle of the park.

Atletico won’t want to let Barrios go, but then again they’ve often had to cash in on their star names in the past, so it might be that they’ll find it hard to turn down big money again.

Barrios himself will also surely have ambitions to win major trophies at some point, and it’s not clear if he’ll be able to do that with his current club, even if Diego Simeone has sometimes managed to upset La Liga’s big two.

Another big concern for Liverpool at the moment is all three of Mohamed Salah, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Virgil van Dijk being close to the ends of their contracts.