Liverpool continue to be strongly linked with a move for Paris Saint-Germain winger Bradley Barcola, but David Lynch isn’t ruling out the possibility of the Reds swooping for one of his teammates this summer.
It’s been a case of one in and one out in terms of first-team centre-backs at Anfield in this transfer window, with Ibrahima Konate departing at the end of his contract and compatriot Jeremy Jacquet coming in to take his place.
It means that Andoni Iraola still has four senior options in that part of the squad, with the French youngster joining Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez and Giovanni Leoni, although the latter hasn’t yet returned from his nasty ACL injury last autumn.
In The Redmen TV‘s Transfer Insight feature, Lynch was asked by Dan Clubbe whether there’s ‘substance’ to rumours of a potential Liverpool move for PSG defender Illia Zabarnyi, who previously played under our new head coach at Bournemouth and was reportedly of interest at Anfield last year.
The journalist replied: “I think it’s one of those that you could see legs in. Richard Hughes will know him from his time at Bournemouth and will know everything about the player. Of course the manager will like him as well.
“If PSG are in a situation where they think, ‘OK, this hasn’t quite worked out; we’re willing to do a cut-price deal’, that’s the sort of thing Liverpool tend to be all over. You think about them taking Ryan Gravenberch for a cut-price fee from Bayern.
“It didn’t work for him there, but he came to Liverpool and it definitely did work. They’ve shown previously that they’re in the market for those kinds of signings, so for me, that’s one that makes a lot more sense and one that you could potentially see legs in.
“I think Liverpool are a bit short at centre-half. You’re putting an awful lot in Jacquet and Leoni and of course Van Dijk, who’s now a year older, to go in with the options that you’ve currently got.
“Zabarnyi is someone who I can get being on the radar, but again it’s still early in the window and it might take PSG to say there’s not really a role for him there to get that one moving. It might take a couple of weeks to get going, that one, but I wouldn’t sit here and rule that one out. I think that’s one to keep an eye on.”
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While there’s no active transfer link for the Ukraine international at present (some sources claimed Liverpool held ‘exploratory’ talks in early June), his prior experience of working under Iraola could make him a feasible option for the Reds if they’re to bring in another centre-back this summer.
Although we have four senior options in that area of the pitch, two are unproven at Premier League level, while Gomez has had his share of injury problems and Van Dijk – whilst still world-class – is now 35 and not even he can keep going forever.
Both Transfermarkt and Football Transfers cite Zabarnyi’s market value in the €40m-€45m (£34.1m-£38.4m) bracket, which doesn’t seem at all excessive for a 23-year-old who’s won the Champions League and also has plenty of Premier League experience to his name.
That’s probably the minimum that Liverpool would realistically need to pay if they’re to land the Ukrainian from PSG, even if he wasn’t in their first-choice XI throughout their European run last season.
It doesn’t seem like a transfer which’d accelerate any time soon, but we agree with Lynch that it’s somewhat plausible and might be worth keeping an eye on in case FSG revisit their rumoured interest from a year ago.
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