Medical imminent: Liverpool target set for £25.6m transfer; was recently worth £85.6m | OneFootball

Bournemouth have agreed all aspects of a deal to bring Antonio Silva to the south coast of England.

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Fabrizio Romano reports on X (formerly Twitter) that the Cherries have agreed a package deal worth €30m [£25.6m].

Liverpool were thought to have previously shortlisted the 22-year-old centre-back.

Bournemouth take Antonio Silva off the table

It’s incredible to think that this was a player who once carried a €100m [£85.6m] release clause (Football Italia). Of course, if we’re going to be fair about the situation, we should also point out that Benfica, reportedly, had been prepared to accept figures closer to €70m-80m [£59.9m-68.5m] at the time when this was reported a couple of years ago.

Regardless, and even working with those reduced figures, Bournemouth deserve praise for effectively securing a £60m (minimum) footballer for less than half his market value.

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Of course, given that Liverpool’s need for a new centre-back – potentially two in light of Joe Gomez’s recent injury – is obvious to all, it begs the question as to why we didn’t throw our hat into the ring.

Liverpool are dismissing quality centre-backs left, right & centre

Look, we can understand why the club might be put off from paying £52m for Maxence Lacroix (Chelsea) or £46m for Luka Vuskovic (Brighton).

But can we not afford to take a £25.6m “risk” for Antonio Silva? Is the budget really that stretched that we have to wait and see what happens with Bradley Barcola?

We get it. With Ibrahima Konate out the door and Virgil van Dijk set to partner up with rookie Jeremy Jacquet (while Giovanni Leoni recovers from injury), Liverpool could do with a veteran option coming in through the door.

But we’ve now seen a whole host of relatively experienced options who’ve made the move around the Premier League without Liverpool throwing their weight about. Jan Paul van Hecke, Marcos Senesi, Lacroix… what exactly are we waiting for?

Because as things currently stand, we’ll be having to rely on Luke Chambers (22) to help shore up our options, given we only have two fit senior centre-backs available. That still leaves us a man short, by the way.

Perhaps Liverpool have a better option up their sleeve than the names discussed, but it doesn’t half feel that we’re letting a lot of value just slip off the table.

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