RB Leipzig midfielder Konrad Laimer has talked about late interest from Liverpool last week. The Reds tried to sign the player.
The Athletic reported on transfer deadline day that Liverpool had made an approach for Konrad Laimer. It turned out they’d left it too late, however, and RB Leipzig weren’t willing to sell.
The Reds pivoted after that and signed Arthur Melo on loan instead. They can make that deal permanent for around £32m at the end of the season – we’ll have to wait and see how he does.
But it certainly sounds as though Liverpool wanted Laimer first and foremost. It made sense, too, given the Austrian is out of contract at the end of the campaign. Leipzig may have sold on the cheap – only, earlier in the window.
However, it turns out that Laimer wouldn’t have said yes, even if Leipzig had. The player didn’t want to move so late in the window.
“[Liverpool’s interest] wasn’t so hot that anything would have happened,” he told Bild. “A hasty departure is not my thing. If I were to change clubs, I would want to think it through and decide calmly, not overnight.
“Especially since the first half of the season is very short anyway due to the World Cup and you wouldn’t have had time to settle in and find your feet.
The Premier League is nice, but for me it’s not a must. It’s much more important to me: how do people talk to me, what feeling do I have about something.”
Liverpool interest in Konrad Laim
It’s not a shock that Laimer was willing to wait. He’s right about the World Cup making things a little awkward in terms of momentum and why wouldn’t he wait? He could move on a free transfer in 2023 and get his pick of clubs.
And we suspect that Liverpool will be one of the clubs going back in for him. Laimer’s stats suggest he’s the best pressing midfielder in Europe, such is his intensity.
The Reds would certainly like that, especially if they don’t need to pay a transfer fee. And so we find it hard to believe that this one is over. It couldn’t happen late in the window but perhaps it can in early 2023
