Teun Koopmeiners‘ name has done the rounds in the Liverpool transfer circuit for some time, with those links intensifying since his former boss Arne Slot took charge at Anfield this summer.
However, despite reportedly being a player who the Reds’ new head coach is very eager to sign, the club may be forced to abandon their pursuit of the 26-year-old if they continue to regard Atalanta’s £50m+ valuation as excessive.
To that effect, CaughtOffside have reported that LFC could instead turn their attention to alternatives such as Quinten Timber, who’s now being considered a ‘concrete’ option and is a player who our boss highly appreciates from their shared time at Feyenoord.
Timber – whose twin brother Jurrien plays for Arsenal – could indeed be a worthy alternative to Koopmeiners if Atalanta and Liverpool can’t see eye-to-eye on a valuation for the 26-year-old.
The Feyenoord midfielder ended last season with eight goals and 10 assists from 44 appearances – not quite as prolific as his elder compatriot in Bergamo but still a more than respectable return.
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Furthermore, as per FBref, the 23-year-old ranked very highly among his positional peers in Europe’s main leagues in 2023/24 for non-penalty xG (top 1%), assists (top 2%), shot-creating actions (top 3%), non-penalty goals (top 4%) and shots taken (top 7%) per 90 minutes.
Timber clearly offers a potent attacking threat and, if the pursuit of Koopmeiners becomes a clear dead end, could be worth a phone call or two to the Rotterdam club’s hierarchy, especially given the Slot connection.
Football Transfers cites his market value at just €17.7m (£15m), and while realistically Feyenoord would demand substantially more than that, we’d wager that he’d still be reasonably attainable for a lower fee than his Dutch counterpart at Atalanta.
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