Man City rocked as Liverpool hold ‘concrete talks’ to hijack €12m deal | OneFootball

Manchester City’s quest to sign Kennet Eichhorn has just got tougher, with Liverpool now in talks to bring the Hertha Berlin midfielder to Anfield.

Eichhorn is one of the best young midfielders in Germany and is a firm target for Man City.

TEAMtalk reported on May 13 that Man City are ‘increasingly confident’ of getting a deal done for Eichhorn.

As Eichhorn is only 16, the defensive midfielder will not be able to move to a club in England until he is 18.

However, Man City have a plan to convince the teenager to commit his future to the Etihad Stadium in the long term.

According to TEAMtalk, ‘City Football Group have proposed a structure that would see Eichhorn become part of their wider football network before spending at least two seasons on loan with Bayer Leverkusen’.

The report added: ‘The arrangement would allow the teenager to remain in Germany and continue developing at elite level while simultaneously committing his long-term future to the City project.’

However, Man City are now facing stiff competition from Liverpool, who are in talks to sign the Germany Under-17 international midfielder.

Liverpool in ‘talks’ to sign Kennet Eichhorn

Sky Germany journalist Florian Plettenberg has reported that Liverpool have held “concrete talks” to get a deal done for the 16-year-old.

Plettenberg wrote on X at 2:24pm on May 25: “EXCLUSIVE | Liverpool have entered the race very concretely for 16 y/o wonderkid Kennet Eichhorn.

“Concrete talks have already taken place, as sources from England confirm.

“#LFC Eichhorn is planning to leave Hertha BSC in the summer.

“Release clause worth around €10-12m.”

Liverpool failed to win against Brentford at Anfield on the final day of the Premier League season, but Arne Slot’s side still qualified for the Champions League.

Reflecting on the season as a whole, Slot said: “We came here today to do the minimum, that’s the minimum required, and that is qualifying for the Champions League.

“As you see when you take a look at the league table, big clubs are not able to qualify for Champions League or Europe.

“Big clubs have not been able to qualify for Europe in the last few seasons in this league, so we can never take it for granted but it’s clear and obvious that we wanted more.

“But I’m really proud of the players, what they’ve done this season, because it’s been a very, very, very tough season for us, with all the things we had to experience, with all the injuries, and I can come up with all these things we have had to go through.

“But if this in the end is then the minimum for us, qualifying for the Champions League, fifth place, and going out in the FA Cup against the winners after losing an away game to Manchester City, which so many teams do.

“Losing against Paris Saint-Germain for the second year in a row, where no team in the last two years were able to beat them over two games.

“Over one game, Chelsea of course in the Club World Cup and maybe Arsenal now in the final, but over two games not one team has been able to do so.

“So yeah, not what I would have loved us to achieve this season before we started but taking everything into account, what has happened to us this season, I’m today happy that we’ve qualified for the Champions League.”