Liverpool Hold Talks In Italy Over Audacious Swoop For Colombian Hitman

The summer transfer window is now well under way and managers are working hard to strengthen their squads ahead of next season, so we’ll bring you all the latest news and gossip. Today, Liverpool have opened talks over a shock move for Radamel Falcao.

Liverpool lead Manchester City in the race for Radamel Falcao after opening talks with Monaco over a sensational move for the Colombian international striker, according to reports.

Falcao has been widely tipped to leave Monaco this summer with reports suggesting that the Ligue 1 club are looking to balance the books after years of lavish spending.

The likes of Real Madrid and Manchester City have been strongly linked in recent weeks, however, it appears there may be a new front-runner for the 28-year-old’s signature.

The Express are reporting today that Liverpool now lead the race for Falcao after opening talks with representatives from Monaco over in Italy on Wednesday. No deal is believed to have been agreed as yet, but the newspaper suggests that the Merseysiders are now favourites ahead of City to land the prolific hitman.

It appears these reports emanate from Italian journalist Mina Rzouki, who made the claims on her Twitter account last night:

Italy may be beautiful for a holiday but it's also useful. Meetings today & a v. good source told me Liverpool have the advantage for Falcao

— Mina Rzouki (@Minarzouki) August 6, 2014

It's not yet done. Falcao is between Liverpool and City but the former quite a bit in the lead to land the player. What a coup it would be

— Mina Rzouki (@Minarzouki) August 6, 2014

It’s not clear how much truth there is in these reports but the British media have picked it them up and understandably, many Liverpool fans are excited by the prospect of Falcao coming to Anfield this summer.

Brendan Rodgers has already spent over £80m this summer on seven new signings but the only striker he’s brought in is Rickie Lambert for £4m and with all due respect, the 32-year-old can not be considered as an adequate replacement for Luis Suarez, so we should expect another striker to arrive before the transfer window closes at the end of the month.

Obviously Falcao would be a sensational coup for Liverpool if they were able to land him, but despite the claims from Rzouki that the Reds lead the chase, there has to be severe doubts over whether they’ll be able to pull it off.

The Express cite claims from Italian sports paper Gazzetta dello Sport which suggest that Liverpool could pick Falcao up on an initial loan deal with a view to making the transfer permanent next summer, which would get around having to pay a sizeable transfer fee up front, but I have my doubts over whether they’ll be able to agree personal terms with the player.

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Falcao is believed to be on wages in the region of £300,000-a-week and he pays no tax, so either Liverpool are going to have to offer him a record-breaking salary, or the striker will have to take a huge pay cut to make the move – which is unlikely. So for this reason, I don’t see Falcao making the move to Anfield this summer.