Liverpool have not given up in their pursuit of Southampton star Virgil van Dijk, but the longer the saga draws out you have to wonder whether it will ever be completed.
The Reds have started to look at other targets, including Real Sociedad standout Inigo Martinez who has also been linked with Manchester City this summer.
Martinez has impressed at Sociedad, with the ball-playing centre-back breaking into the Spanish international side in the process, winning four caps.
It’s believed that a lucrative offer from a Premier League side has been put forward for the centre-back, but that team has not been named yet, which begs the question – was it Liverpool?
The unnamed club are ready to meet Martinez’s €30m release clause in his contract if the player agrees terms to move to England this summer.
While Liverpool are clearly keen on adding a centre-back this summer, it remains to be seen whether or not it was them who launched this move for Martinez, but it certainly ticks all the right boxes.
He’s an affordable price, he plays the game how Jurgen Klopp would like his centre-backs to, and at 26, he’s entering the prime of his career.
That being said, the Reds could still have all their eggs in the Virgil van Dijk basket, and considering Manchester City’s defensive overhaul this summer and Pep Guardiola’s links with the Spanish market, it’s a fair assumption to make that City are the more likely of the two clubs to have made this bid for Martinez.
