Paul Gorst has not yet heard any specifics around Liverpool’s reported interest in Riccardo Calafiori.
This follows speculation in the wake of James Horncastle’s Athletic piece on the Euros 2024 sensation who has impressed with the Italian national side.
“I haven’t had that communicated to me [that Liverpool have inquired about Calafiori],” the Liverpool Echo reporter told The Anfield Wrap’s Talking Transfers podcast.
“But one thing I would say is Richard Hughes is a lover of Italian football. He grew up in Italy, turned down the chance to play for Milan as a kid, and then went to Atalanta and really grew up on a diet of Italian football.
“So, for me, he is very much abreast of what is happening in Serie A and who the latest up-and-comers are. Maybe he’s one who has been floated across the table as a potential option on Hughes’s say.”
The 22-year-old kept Luciano Spalletti’s men in the tournament with a bold run from midfield deep in extra time, laying off Mattia Zaccagni for the crucial equaliser against Croatia.
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The Bologna centre-half is reportedly available for around £42m this summer, though Juventus’ interest in him is quite serious following Thiago Motta’s relocation to Turin.
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Liverpool, I am on my knees here.
We completely appreciate our unfortunate history with Italian footballers – but at some point that has to change, right? Right?
£42m in today’s money is probably around £15-20m for yesterday’s top, up-and-coming centre-half who could shake a generation.
Calafiori has got all the tools to make a huge success of his playing career. He looks quick, ‘comfortable in possession’ as Paul Gorst notes, aerially competent (though yet to be tested in English football), can play left-back, left midfield and as a left-sided centre-back. You could, quite probably, stick him alongside Virgil van Dijk for a season and there wouldn’t be any concerns.
Yes, there is that chance it could all go terribly wrong. But if Richard Hughes, well-versed in the virtues of Italian football, and Co. believe he’s our man, we should be blowing Juventus out of the water for him.
Bologna, we’re told, aren’t happy with the nature of Thiago Motta’s switch to Serie A rivals Juventus this summer.
What better way to empathise with i Rossoblu than by outbidding The Old Lady for Riccardo Calafiori?
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