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The 26-year-old Italian international midfielder has been linked with the Reds a number of times in recent seasons.
Following on from Monday’s revival of Ryan Gravenberch transfer chatter, today sees another name that had faded in recent months brought back to the surface with reports out of Italy claiming Liverpool are favourites to sign Inter midfielder Nicolò Barella.
The 26-year-old has been linked with Liverpool in previous summers and again was one of the names talked up as an option near the end of the 2022-23 season as the Reds prepared for a long-overdue midfield rebuild that kicked off with the arrival of Alexis Mac Allister.
Renewed transfer talk surrounding first Gravenberch and now Barella this week follows on from a period when all signs pointed to Nice’s Khéphren Thuram as the club’s clear cut top choice to become their second major midfield signing of the summer break.
That situation seems as though it could point to difficulties negotiating with Nice over Thuram that are either forcing the Reds to legitimately move on to other targets on their list—or to talk them up as real possibilities in an effort to drive down Thuram’s fee.
Barella has been key man as an eight in midfield for Inter over the past four seasons and is a mainstay in the Italian national team. He has recently been linked with Newcastle in a proposed €50M deal but reports out of Italy have consistently set his price higher.
