Jurgen Klopp was once full of praise for Napoli's in-demand winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, with Liverpool now emerging as a contender for his signature.
The Georgian talent turned heads with his performance against Liverpool in the 2022 Champions League, testing the Reds' defense and outsmarting Trent Alexander-Arnold early at Anfield with a vicious nutmeg. Paris Saint-Germain may be leading the race to sign Kvaratskhelia, but it is no secret that Liverpool have been pursuing the forward since witnessing his impressive performances.
Despite a 2-0 win for Liverpool that night, Kvaratskhelia received high praise from ex-Reds boss Klopp, who looked back on the performance at the time with clear admiration: “He's a good player,” Klopp said. “It was very difficult. I know people will talk about one or two situations with Trent when he tried to get in front of him and the ball went through.
“He is really good, that boy. Very fast, we have to defend it well together in these moments. If he has the advantage of the first moment, then he is already gone.”
“You have to try to be there when the ball arrives. If you can't do that, you have to be protected because he has pace. He is brutal, he can go in, he goes out, that always makes him difficult. ” . A good player.”
While Kvaratskhelia's move to Liverpool would undoubtedly thrill the Kop, a move may not be imminent. The Reds already have plenty of attackers, with Luis Diaz, Cody Gakpo, Darwin Nunez and Diogo Jota alone as options on the left flank, the Liverpool Echo reports.
Furthermore, Reds boss Arne Slot played down transfer speculation over Kvaratskhelia during a recent pre-match press conference. When asked about reports linking the Napoli star to Liverpool, Slot said: “When you said you were linked to”, I thought: 'Which club is he going to say next?'
“But you mean that as a club we are linked to Kvaratskhelia. What I take from that is that this is January and I think I said it after the game against West Ham United.” [to journalists]please don't disappoint me, please come with all these players and all these clubs that are in our interest.
“Or those who don't play much for us go somewhere else. That.” [speculation] is what is happening now. And nine times out of ten or 99 times out of 100, by the end of the window it was clear that almost all of these stories were not “true.” So what can I say about it? Rumors continue to circulate about it, but there has been no comment from me.”
Kvaratskhelia's possible departure has caught many off guard given his crucial role in Antonio Conte's team. Despite this, negotiations over a renewed contract with Napoli have stalled, leading to reports that he has requested a transfer from the club.
Napoli are said to be looking to demand a fee in excess of £70m, and while PSG have fallen short of this valuation – offering player swaps instead – Liverpool remain in the wings. The longer the forward stays at Napoli, speculation will grow that the Reds could land the sought-after star.
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