Liverpool ramp up pursuit of £35m Serie A ace who was flattered by previous Reds rumours – report

Liverpool are reportedly stepping up their pursuit of a player who’s been flattered by previous links with the Reds.

According to Italian outlet Corriere dello Sport, the Anfield club represent ‘the biggest obstacle’ to Juventus’ hopes of signing Teun Koopmeiners, for whom Atalanta would apparently want at least €35m-€40m (£30.5m-£35m).

The article mentions that the Merseysiders have already ‘taken the first steps’ to try and land the Netherlands international, who commented in January that it was ‘nice to see’ him being linked with Jurgen Klopp’s side in the winter (Fabrizio Romano, via Liverpool Echo).

The 25-year-old is already familiar with two players at Liverpool, playing in the same national team as Virgil van Dijk and Cody Gakpo.

Despite playing primarily as a defensive midfielder, Koopmeiners boasts an impressive return of seven goals and three assists from 29 Serie A games this season, even scoring a hat-trick in Atalanta’s win over Torino last September (Transfermarkt).

The Dutchman likes to play on the front foot, as evidenced by his match average of 4.02 shot-creating actions, placing him among the top 6% of positional peers in Europe’s five main leagues for this metric (FBref).

At 25, he should be coming into the prime of his career, which has seen him rack up almost 250 senior appearances at club and international level combined (Transfermarkt).

Just how seriously Liverpool will pursue Koopmeiners – the latest in an increasingly lengthy succession of midfielders linked with a summer move to Anfield – remains to be seen, although his previous comments suggest that he might be open to teaming up with the Reds if they strongly pursue him.