Liverpool rekindle move for ‘Le Tissier of La Liga’ as Bournemouth eye £7m wonderkid bid

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Liverpool line up January bid for a midfielder they once missed out on plus the rest of the best Premier League transfer rumours.

Welcome to your daily digest of the latest – and often strangest – Premier League transfer news. Today, we’re going to kick off right at the top of the table with a report that suggests Liverpool could be back in for a player that we all thought they’d missed out on…

It seems that Arne Slot’s side are “not giving up on their quest” to sign Real Sociedad midfielder Martín Zubimendi, who turned down a move to Anfield this summer even after the Reds met his €60m (£50.2m) buy-out clause.

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TeamTalk note that there has been speculation that the Spanish international regrets his decision, and bring in comments from a journalist covering Liverpool who reckons that the money remains available to make a deal happen in January. On the other hand, the article does also cite a completely different source who suggests that the red are wasting their time as Zubimendi simply doesn’t want to leave his club – rather amusingly dubbing him the “Matt Le Tissier of La Liga”, presumably more for his one-club credentials than his questionable political views.

The 3AM Verdict: When questioned, the player has of course denied the reports that he’s unhappy with his own decision – but then, he would, wouldn’t he? Sociedad have had a surprisingly rough start to the new campaign and hover only a few places above the relegation zone, and one assumes that if that carries on his loyalty really will be questioned. As for Liverpool having the money to make moves in January, we suspect that will be true regardless of the profit and sustainability rules, as they have spent less than similar teams in the last couple of seasons.

Cherries pick out young star

More news linking English clubs and Spanish stars now, courtesy of Iberian outlet Fichajes. They reckon that Bournemouth head coach Andoni Iraola has plans to raid La Liga side Real Valladolid in the near future by making a move for 21-year-old winger Raúl Moro, who also plays for Spain’s Under-21 side.

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The player, described in the article as “one of the great promises of La Liga”, has apparently drawn interest from a few clubs but the Cherries seem to especially keen. Moro, who broke into the Valladolid first team last season while they were down in the Spanish second tier after coming through the youth ranks at Lazio, would apparently cost just €6-8m (£5-7m).

The 3AM Verdict: As always with stories that start with Fichajes, we have to put a caveat here that they don’t have the highest hit rate when it comes to accurate reportage of transfer rumours. But this doesn’t seem like an especially wild or implausible story, and would be a very good budget buy if it’s the real deal. Moro looks handy, and that’s hardly bank-busting money.

Leeds man linked with January move

At this point we must confess to a slight and very rare lie – this will be one of the few occasions on which we drift away from our promised remit of looking at Premier League transfer rumours and dive down into the Championship, in this case for a story that should interest Leeds United fans. It’s been a slow day, what can we say?

According to Sport Witness, Leeds may well find themselves struggling to keep hold of left-back Junior Firpo, who has apparently emerged as a January target for Real Betis, who he played for before joining Barcelona back in 2019. Apparently he would “not be against” the idea, at least according to sources in the Spanish media, and with his contract expiring at the end of the season Leeds may well not wish to prevent him leaving. The doubt expressed in the report is whether Betis have the money to move now, or whether they might wait until he’s a free agent in the summer.

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The 3AM Verdict: Firpo never fully hit the heights he once promised, but he’s still an important contributor for Leeds and registered seven assists last season as they came close to a Premier League return. If contract negotiations don’t yield positive results, however, selling him may well be a necessity.

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