Liverpool & Manchester United in pole position for £40m star as representatives jet to UK to discuss transfer

Originally posted on Caught Offside | By Mark Brus | Last updated 8/1/21

Liverpool and Manchester United are reportedly in pole position to clinch the transfer of Atletico Madrid midfielder Saul Niguez.

The Spain international is one of the finest midfielders in Europe on his day, but seems to have rather surprisingly been made available on the cheap this summer.

According to the Daily Mirror, Saul looks to have been given the green light to leave Madrid for just £40million, with his representatives now set to jet into the UK in order to discuss a move for the player.

The report names Liverpool and Man Utd as being in pole position to sign Saul, which could make things interesting in the weeks to come.

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The 26-year-old could have a big impact at either club, and whoever wins the race for his signature will surely be gaining a huge early advantage in the 2021/22 Premier League title race.

Liverpool need a player like Saul to replace the departing Georginio Wijnaldum, while there is surely also room to try and bring in upgrades on unconvincing performers like Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, while veteran midfielder James Milner also surely doesn’t have that much longer left as a regular starter for Jurgen Klopp’s side.

United, meanwhile, have Paul Pogba in the final year of his contract, so could do well to bring in Saul in case the Frenchman needs replacing.

Donny van de Beek joined the Red Devils last summer, but hasn’t yet made much of an impact, so Ole Gunnar Solskjaer may well prefer to have Saul as an option in that position instead.

This article first appeared on Caught Offside and was syndicated with permission.

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