Liverpool given potential Dean Huijsen encouragement as reports of ‘verbal offer’ emerge | OneFootball

Liverpool’s hopes of signing Dean Huijsen this summer may have been given a boost by reports emerging from France.

The Bournemouth centre-back appears to be one of the Reds’ primary transfer targets, with Florian Plettenberg reporting in the last couple of weeks that Richard Hughes has made ‘a strong push’ to try and lure the 20-year-old to Anfield.

It remains to be seen whether or not the Premier League champions will have ‘a free run’ at the Spain international – something at which David Lynch hinted in April – but they might take encouragement from what the Vitality Stadium hierarchy have seemingly been doing.

Liverpool given fresh hope over Huijsen as Bournemouth seek successor

According to L’Equipe, the Cherries appear to be covering their bases for Huijsen’s prospective exit by taking ‘a concrete step’ towards signing a replacement.

The French outlet has claimed that Bournemouth have made a ‘verbal offer’ in the region of €20m (£17m) to Nantes for teenage centre-back Nathan Zeze, who was reportedly approached by Inter Milan in last summer’s transfer window.

(Photo by Christof Koepsel/Getty Images)

Are Bournemouth bracing themselves to lose Huijsen this summer?

The south coast club’s apparent pursuit of the French youngster hints at either an acceptance that they could struggle to keep hold of Huijsen, or an acknowledgement that – with several clubs seemingly willing to trigger his £50m release clause – they could make a serious profit on a player who cost them less than £13m last summer.

Either way, it could provide Liverpool with added hope of snapping up the 20-year-old if the Cherries are already making offers to sign his prospective replacement.

While Virgil van Dijk’s two-year contract extension reduces the urgency for the Reds to bring in a new centre-back, the injury problems experienced by Ibrahima Konate and Joe Gomez this season suggest that Arne Slot could still do with greater depth in that part of his squad, particularly if some players were to leave Anfield.

The Premier League champions are reportedly eyeing a potential free transfer swoop for Bayer Leverkusen’s Jonathan Tah, and although Huijsen would clearly cost a whole lot more, he’s a much younger option who could viably spend the next decade on Merseyside if we were to sign him.

Bournemouth will naturally fight hard to try and keep the 20-year-old at the Vitality Stadium, but in seemingly making an offer for Zeze, they could also be bracing themsleves for the Spaniard to move on – something which won’t be lost on Hughes.