Newcastle United midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum is reportedly keen on exiting St. James’ Park this summer after the Magpies were demoted to the Football League Championship next season and Premier League powerhouse Liverpool is rumored to be ready to accommodate him.
The Daily Express reported that Wijnaldum is anticipated to arrive at the Anfield “ahead of a £20 million transfer to Liverpool this week” to have his medical after the Reds’ fellow Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur pulled out from the race to acquire the 25-year-old Netherlands international.
Aside from Liverpool and Tottenham, another English top flight club, Everton, is said to be interested in bidding for Wijnaldum, but the advantage is currently at the side of head coach Jürgen Klopp’s club.
The report said that the Spurs withdrew from the race after learning of the 5-foot-9 Rotterdam native’s £27 million release clause, which Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino deemed too high for the former PSV Eindhoven standout.
Newcastle acquired Wijnaldum from the Red and Whites for a transfer fee of £14.5 million last summer and Tottenham’s senior officials expected his buyout clause this year to be around the same amount.
Klopp and Liverpool officials also believe that Newcastle’s asking price for the midfielder is overvalued and so they submitted a bid that is £7 million less than Wijnaldum’s price tag.
Meanwhile, the Mirror noted that Wijnaldum is not the only Magpie who wants out of manager Rafa Benitez’s squad this offseason as French midfielder Moussa Sissoko is also asking for an exit.
The report noted that Bundesliga powerhouse Borussia Dortmund is interested in buying the France national team’s Euro 2016 star and Newcastle may also allow the sale after Benitez said that he is “ready to let players move on” if they do not want to stay and that the club “maybe have to sell some players, but that is normal.”
Liverpool is set to participate in the USA leg of the upcoming 2016 International Champions Cup with fellow English teams Leicester City and Chelsea. Their first game will be on July 27 against the Blues at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California before facing Inter Milan three days later at the Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, also in California.
After that, they travel to the Wembley Stadium in London on August 6 to clash with La Liga champions FC Barcelona in what is one of the most highly-anticipated matches in the whole friendly tournament.
