Liverpool To Submit Fresh Offer After Seeing £33.5m Midfielder Bid Rejected

The summer transfer window is in full swing so we’ll bring you all the latest transfer rumours and gossip from around the globe. Today, Liverpool are linked with Joao Mario…

Liverpool are set to table an improved offer for Joao Mario after already seeing a £33.5m bid rejected by Sporting Lisbon for the Portuguese international midfielder, according to reports in Portugal via the Express.

Mario has developed in to one of the best midfielders in Portugal since breaking in to the Sporting first team in 2014 and helped the club push Benfica all the way in the Primeira Liga title race last season.

The 23-year-old took his excellent form in to this summers European Championships where he featured six times as Portugal lifted the trophy with a surprise 1-0 victory over hosts France in Paris last month.

Mario has been linked with a whole host of top clubs this summer and the players father revealed recently that Liverpool had seen their opening offer worth £33.5m rejected by Sporting – who appear determined to hang on to the midfielder.

Joao Mario Eduardo is quoted as saying by the Express:

“Proposals for the lad don’t come directly to me,”

“They go to his agent, Kia Joorabchian, and the Sporting President. I was informed, however, that the club said no to a €35m (£29.3m) bid plus €10m (£8.4m) in bonuses from Inter and €40m (£33.5m) from Liverpool.

“Nothing particular has happened, my son is a professional and knows he has a contract with Sporting.”

However, it looks like Liverpool aren’t ready to give up on signing Mario just yet as the Express are citing a report coming from A Bola that claims Jurgen Klopp is set to test Sporting’s resolve with an improved offer.

The German coach has been extremely busy in the transfer market so far this summer after signing seven new players including midfielders Georginio Wijnaldum and Marko Grujic.

However, with Joe Allen off to Stoke and Lucas Leiva also tipped to leave Anfield this summer, Klopp could yet bring in another midfielder and it appears Mario is firmly on his radar.

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We’ll have to wait and see whether this reported offer comes to fruition but Liverpool aren’t the only club being linked with Mario as the Express claim that Inter Milan, Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain are also showing a keen interest, so the Merseysiders could face some stiff competition for his signature.