The agent of Liverpool-linked defender Nico Schlotterbeck has spoken out about his client’s future as he approaches the final year of his contract at Borussia Dortmund.
Various transfer insiders have claimed in recent months that the Reds will be in the race to sign the 26-year-old in the summer if his contractual situation at Signal Iduna Park remains unresolved, although concrete links to the Germany international have gone cold since the turn of the year.
His representative Matthias Sammer has now claimed that the centre-back is likelier to stay put with BVB than move elsewhere and suggested that an announcement over his future mightn’t be all that far away.
Speaking on Sky Germany programme Sammer & Basile – the Hagedorn Talk, the Euro 1996 winner said of Schlotterbeck’s future: “It’s up to him. I’m curious to see what happens. I’d say I’m deeply convinced that he’ll stay at Borussia Dortmund. I’m convinced, but not because I know for a fact – I’m just putting it out there.”
“The club is changing a bit at the moment and he could become the face of an era, and earn a decent wage in the process.”
With Giovanni Leoni still several months away from returning from his ACL layoff, Virgil van Dijk coming into the final 15 months of his contract, and uncertainty abounding over the futures of Ibrahima Konate and Joe Gomez, Liverpool will surely need to enter the market for a centre-back this summer.
At 26 and with plenty of high-level experience gleaned at Dortmund, Schlotterbeck would instantly stand out as an ideal candidate, particularly if he were to enter the final year of his current deal without an extension being agreed.
The towering German (1.91m tall) is an astute operator in both penalty boxes, as evidenced by his tally of four goals this season and his 90-minute averages for certain metrics in comparison to other Bundesliga centre-backs (via Fotmob).
Sammer seems adamant that his client will pen new terms at Signal Iduna Park, but if Liverpool feel that the 26-year-old would be an ideal long-term defensive leader at Anfield, they’d be foolish not to sound out the opportunity for a transfer at the very least.
The impending exit of Mo Salah will very likely necessitate a forward signing in the summer, and the fate of their Champions League pursuit will determine how extensive a budget the Reds will have in that window, but Schlotterbeck ought to be under consideration within the corridors of power at Anfield.
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