Liverpool could be ready to make a shock raid on Chelsea with Jurgen Klopp showing an interest in signing Antonio Rudiger this summer, according to reports via TeamTalk.
Klopp isn’t expected to spend heavily in the market after Liverpool stormed their way to the Premier League title but the German coach has already snapped-up left-back Kostas Tsimikas after he completed an £11.5m move from Olympiacos on Monday evening.
The Liverpool boss also needs to further strengthen his options at centre-back following Dejan Lovren’s move to Zenit St Petersburg and several players have been linked with a move to Anfield in recent weeks.
The latest name to add to the list is Antonio Rudiger as TeamTalk are citing Mundo Deportivo as claiming in their transfer rumour section that Liverpool are showing an interest in the Chelsea defender.
Rudiger moved to Stamford Bridge from Roma in a £29m deal three years ago and has been a key player having made 115 appearances in all competitions over the past three seasons to help Chelsea win the Europa League and FA Cup.
However, the German international’s future is in serious doubt as TeamTalk says Chelsea are in no rush to offer him a new contract after he lost his automatic first team place under Frank Lampard last season.
The 27-year-old started just 19 Premier League matches last season as Lampard regularly rotated his central defenders with Andreas Christensen, Kurt Zouma and Fikayo Tomori all sharing responsibilities at times.
Chelsea are being tipped to sign another top class centre-back this summer and it’s led to speculation that Lampard may decide to cash-in on Rudiger as he’s arguably the most valuable of his four main central defenders.
According to these reports coming out of Spain, Liverpool are interested if Chelsea do decide to sell but it remains to be seen whether the Blues would be willing to do business with their domestic rivals.
If Rudiger did end up moving to Anfield this summer, he’d compete with Joel Matip and Joe Gomez for a starting spot in Klopp’s line-up as Virgil van Dijk is a guaranteed starter for the Premier League champions.
