Liverpool need a midfield rebuild after Jordan Henderson, Fabinho, Naby Keita, James Milner, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Arthur Melo all departed this summer.
Jurgen Klopp’s side were then outclassed by Jude Bellingham for Real Madrid, and also lost to Chelsea in their pursuit of Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia, as they instead turned their attention to Stuttgart captain Wataru Endo, who had already signed Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai. .
They have been interested in Doucoure since the middle of last season. It was an excellent first campaign in English football for the 23-year-old, with only Declan Rice making more interceptions than the Malian in the entire Premier League in 2022/23.
Transfer battle: Crystal Palace would struggle to lose Cheick Doucoure to Liverpool
/ fake imagesstandard sport revealed last month that Paris Saint-Germain were also keeping an eye on the defensive midfielder, but it is Liverpool who will push the most to sign him before the transfer deadline of September 1.
The Eagles are believed to value Doucoure at around £70m. Palace will point to fees paid by midfielders already this summer, with Chelsea willing to splurge £58m for Lavia.
Palace, who already lost Wilfried Zaha to Galatasaray this summer and with Michael Olise close to joining Chelsea, are desperate to keep Doucoure, whom manager Roy Hodgson wants to line up alongside new signing Jefferson Lerma as their double pivot in midfield during the 2023/24 campaign.
It was only last summer that he joined the South London club of Lens for a fee of £21 million. While Doucoure is believed to be open to a move to Liverpool, he too is content at Palace just one year into his five-year contract.
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Another holding midfielder is expected to join Liverpool before the transfer window closes in 15 days. Liverpool are also following Fulham’s Joao Palhinha and Nice’s Khephren Thuram in that position.
Meanwhile, his interest in Borussia Monchengladbach’s Manu Kone waned after he suffered a knee injury while representing France at the European Under-21 Championship in June.
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