Romano confirms ‘genuine’ Liverpool interest in January signing as Neville gives Salah ‘gut feeling’ | OneFootball

Transfer expert Fabrizio Romano insists Liverpool have “genuine interest” in signing Antoine Semenyo from Bournemouth in January.

The Reds have been underperforming in the Premier League this season after winning the title in Arne Slot’s first campaign at Anfield.

Liverpool are currently sixth in the Premier League and ten points behind leaders Arsenal after 16 matches with Slot’s side winning their last two matches in all competitions against Inter Milan and Brighton.

Their 2-0 win over the Seagulls on Saturday was only their sixth win in their last 17 matches in all competitions and their eighth victory in the Premier League this season.

Liverpool are likely to bring in one or two new faces to help out Slot in the January transfer window and Romano has confirmed that reported interest in Bournemouth winger Semenyo is “genuine”.

Romano told GiveMeSport: “Genuine interest but there are more clubs also keen. It’s going to be a race also with more sides, depending on what the player wants to do.”

It comes days after Romano revealed that Liverpool “still have to decide internally whether they invest again after a busy summer” with Semenyo on their shortlist.

Romano said: “What’s the status of the deal? For sure, Liverpool must be mentioned as one of the interested clubs and they are involved in the race to sign the winger. He’s high on the shortlist, while the Reds still have to decide internally whether they invest again after a busy summer.

“Semenyo is for sure one of the names under consideration at the club. Some sources also suggest Liverpool have already asked for information on the payment terms of the release clause.”

Mohamed Salah replaced the injured Joe Gomez in the first half of the Reds’ win over Brighton after a week of uncertainty following his comments aimed at the club and manager.

Salah insisted the club had “thrown him under the bus” while he claimed his relationship with Slot was broken – but, after peace talks on Friday, the Liverpool forward was back in the squad against the Seagulls.

And Neville reckons Salah, who’s set to depart for the Africa Cup of Nations, will now stay at Liverpool until the end of the season.

When asked what the future holds for Salah after Liverpool beat Brighton, Neville told NBC Sports: “Look, I’m not neutral in this in the sense that I’m obviously a Manchester United fan.

“But if I’m talking about it from a Premier League perspective, I think it was a smart move yesterday for Liverpool and Arne Slot to get Mohamed Salah on the pitch to diffuse the situation.

“It was at boiling point after his interview.

“I’d like to think he’s going to go away and they’re going to come – or they have come – to some form of compromise, that yesterday wasn’t a lap of honour of him leaving, it was more of a case of him going to AFCON and then he can come back and play for Liverpool.

“However, nothing would surprise you.”

Neville added: “The one thing that I feel about this is that Arne Slot said he was looking for an apology.

“We’ve not heard that he has apologised so is it actually behind them both? Is he behind the manager?

“Ultimately, if it was our manager [Sir Alex Ferguson] back in the day at Manchester United, he would want some form of apology. Situations like that did happen so maybe he will leave.

“But my gut feeling is that he stays this season at Liverpool.”