Liverpool's Rayan Cherki agreement amid ongoing Florian Wirtz transfer talks

Daily Mirror

2 days ago

Liverpool boss Arne Slot honoured a previous agreement to meet with Lyon star Rayan Cherki over a transfer to the Reds, but that was before their Florian Wirtz chase accelerated
Arne Slot remained a man of his word by flying out to meet Rayan Cherki, but now he'll be hoping Florian Wirtz sticks to his guns too.
As reported on Tuesday, the Liverpool manager honoured a previous commitment when he met with the Lyon attacker and his entourage for transfer discussions over a move this summer.
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There is of course a lot to like about the 21-year-old Frenchman who has turned heads at Lyon this season, enjoying something of a breakthrough campaign in front of goal by netting 12 times - more than double his previous tally in an individual season.
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His displays, a more than reasonable asking price and Lyon's acceptance that he is likely to leave this summer have made Cherki one of the hottest properties on the market, and all of the elite clubs want to be part of the conversation.
But Slot, and probably Cherki, will know the young Frenchman's place in Liverpool's list of priorities.
As detailed in The Athletic 's report, the Reds boss had agreed to the meeting before Liverpool made a breakthrough in their attempts to sign Wirtz, and although the lack of progress in what would be a club record move for the German is making some Reds fans nervous, there is still hope and expectation on all sides that the deal can be done.
Liverpool have so far had two bids for Wirtz rejected, the latter coming in at around £109million which was turned down on Friday, but Leverkusen haven't rejected those offers out of hand and instead want to keep the Reds at the table.
That's because the alternative would be to lose Wirtz to Bayern Munich, something that would reduce their already slim Bundesliga title hopes still further, and so the goal remains to sell their crown jewel outside of Germany.
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After initially jockeying for position alongside Manchester City, Liverpool got themselves to the front of that queue, and Slot impressed Wirtz and his camp when he put his vision for the player forward.
With Wirtz simultaneously less than inspired by what he was presented with at Bayern Munich, his mind was made up over a move to Anfield, leaving it in the hands of the money men to thrash out the deal.
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His only hope has been to get the transfer concluded as quickly as possible, ideally before Germany's UEFA Nations League semi-final against Portugal on Wednesday, but of course that doesn't have to be a hard deadline.
Leverkusen have raised possibility of the Reds including a player in the deal to bridge the financial gap, but Liverpool are still convinced a straight financial package can be struck.
All parties certainly hope so at least, with Slot's visit to Cherki nothing more than an insurance policy.