{"id":42520,"date":"2022-06-08T21:30:25","date_gmt":"2022-06-08T21:30:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/liverpool-transfer-news-nunez-hopes-grow-nagelsmann-driving-mane-pursuit\/"},"modified":"2022-06-08T21:30:25","modified_gmt":"2022-06-08T21:30:25","slug":"liverpool-transfer-news-nunez-hopes-grow-nagelsmann-driving-mane-pursuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/liverpool-transfer-news-nunez-hopes-grow-nagelsmann-driving-mane-pursuit\/","title":{"rendered":"Liverpool transfer news: Nunez hopes grow, Nagelsmann driving Mane pursuit"},"content":{"rendered":"
Talk about a lively start to the tenure of Liverpool’s new sporting director Julian Ward.<\/p>\n
Since Michael Edwards’ reign officially ended after the club’s Champions League final defeat to Real Madrid, Ward has been given the task of handling the impending exit of a legendary, pivotal attacker in Sadio Mane while trying to reshape Jurgen Klopp’s front line by securing the services of an elite replacement. Benfica’s \u20ac 100 million (\u00a3 85 million) -rated Darwin Nunez tops their shortlist and attempts to thrash out a deal are ongoing.<\/p>\n
Throw into the mix talks with agents over contract renewals and trying to generate funds by offloading fringe stars who are surplus to requirements at Anfield and it’s been a relentless start to June.<\/p>\n
To describe it as a baptism of fire wouldn’t be quite right as there’s been a gradual handover of responsibilities from Edwards to Ward over the past six months.<\/p>\n
Ward led the way in landing a \u00a3 50-million deal with Porto for Luis Diaz at the end of the January window and subsequently saw off competition to sign Fabio Carvalho from Fulham for a fee of \u00a3 5 million potentially rising to \u00a3 7.7 million with add -ons.<\/p>\n
Edwards, who spent less and less time at Kirkby’s AXA Training Center during the second half of the season, remained in daily contact with Ward and has provided plenty of advice for his successor. It will certainly come in handy as Ward plays hardball with Bayern Munich over their pursuit of Mane and negotiates with Benfica over the structure of a deal for Nunez.<\/p>\n
Anfield officials dismissed Bayern’s second bid for Mane as \u201claughable\u201d on Wednesday after it emerged that they offered \u00a3 23.5 million potentially rising to \u00a3 30 million with add-ons. That figure of \u00a3 6.5 million in bonuses would only have been triggered in full if Bayern won the Champions League and Mane lifted the Ballon d’Or in each of the next three seasons – something Liverpool regarded as outright fanciful.<\/p>\n
The Athletic<\/em> revealed last week that Liverpool’s asking price for Mane had been set at around \u20ac 50 million (\u00a3 42 million). Bayern’s initial bid was \u00a3 21 million potentially rising to \u00a3 25 million.<\/p>\n Bayern sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic has indicated he’s keen to fly to Merseyside to conduct face-to-face talks with Ward, but Liverpool insist he will be wasting his time unless he’s prepared to table what they regard as a serious offer.<\/p>\n The Bundesliga champions have pointed to the fact that Liverpool only paid them \u00a3 25 million in September 2020 for midfielder Thiago, who, like Mane, was down to the final year of his contract.<\/p>\n However, Anfield officials believe a fairer comparison is Bayern’s current \u20ac 50 million (\u00a3 42 million) valuation of Robert Lewandowski, who wants to leave the Allianz Arena this summer and join Barcelona. Both players are out of contract in 2023 but Mane is three years younger than the Poland striker.<\/p>\n Liverpool had initially hoped to resume talks with Mane about a contract extension after the end of the season, but it became clear that he wanted to pursue a new challenge after having his head turned by Bayern’s lucrative offer of a three-year deal.<\/p>\n Bayern head coach Julian Nagelsmann, who came up against Liverpool during his spells in charge of Hoffenheim and RB Leipzig, has been the driving force behind the club’s pursuit of Mane. He believes his wealth of experience, quality, relentless nature and versatility will massively enhance his team by him.<\/p>\n As well as potentially filling the boots of Lewandowski through the middle, Mane could be utilized out wide given the ongoing uncertainty over the future of Serge Gnabry. His signing di lui would also give Nagelsmann the option of changing the system and playing with three forwards.<\/p>\n