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Liverpool and another Premier League club are interested in signing a highly-rated young defender, according to his current club’s president.
Liverpool transfer news
It remains to be seen if the Reds will do any key transfer business during the January window, but they have certainly been linked with plenty of players of late. For example, Anfield chiefs are reportedly looking to hijack Manchester United’s move for impressive young Nice centre-back Jean-Clair Todibo, as Jurgen Klopp weighs up whether to bolster his defensive options or not.
Joel Matip’s season-ending injury has acted as a major blow to the Reds manager, making it absolutely vital that Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate stay fit for long periods this season.
Away from the defence, Liverpool have been linked with a move for Barcelona winger Raphinha, with the former Leeds United man potentially leaving the La Liga giants in the near future. A stunning move for Paris Saint-Germain and France superstar Kylian Mbappe has been mooted, too, but it appears as though Real Madrid are in pole position to snap him up.
Liverpool want Kevin Mantilla
Speaking to La Voz [via Sport Witness], Talleres president Andres Fassi claimed Liverpool and Brighton are interested in signing centre-back Kevin Mantilla.
“It’s true, they have been following him for four months now. And they asked us for information about his physical records.”
A report last year claimed that the Reds were keen on signing the 20-year-old, but a move has failed to come to fruition until this point. He is contracted to his current club until the summer of 2027, so it may take a hefty bid to prise him away any time soon.
Mantilla is still very much a player who is maturing, given his age, but he could be viewed as a long-term investment by Liverpool, coming in as a good backup option to begin with, and learning from playing alongside the likes of Van Dijk and Konate.
He is a 23-time capped Colombia Under-20 international, and assuming he continues on his current trajectory, he will surely make the step up to the senior international team at some point in the future.
Mantilla now has nine first-team appearances to his name for Tallares, and the fact that he can also slot in at both left-back and right-back at times could act as another reason to sign him for Klopp. The Liverpool manager is a fan of versatile players – the Reds have been linked with Sporting CP star Goncalo Inacio numerous times, who can play centrally and on the left-hand side of the defence – so it is a move that would make sense.
![Club president says Liverpool are "following" his star player 1 hayden-hackney-conor-bradley-liverpool-opinion](https://i0.wp.com/static0.footballfancastimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/hayden-hackney-conor-bradley-liverpool-opinion.jpg?resize=814%2C407&ssl=1)
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Admittedly, the improved form of Joe Gomez this season and the emergence of youngster Jarell Quansah does mean the Reds are well-stocked at the back, even without Matip fit, but bringing in Mantilla at this point in his career would represent good business.
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