Liverpool are eyeing sweeping changes on the transfer market this summer, and manager Jurgen Klopp has reportedly earmarked Inter Milan maestro Nicolo Barella as his prime target.
What's the latest on Nicolo Barella to Liverpool?
According to Inter Live, the Reds' German boss is desperate to secure the signing of Italy international Barella, with his outfit looking for a sum of €80m (£69m) to prise him away from Milano.
Indeed, it's stated that Klopp 'talks about it constantly' and has even asked the owners, FSG, to help complete a move.
This follows previous claims from La Gazzetta dello Sport that the 26-year-old is searching for a new footballing project amid financial difficulties that leave I Nerazzurri resigned to cashing in lucratively on several standout stars.
Three first-team midfielders have been confirmed to be departing Anfield in several weeks, and having endured a dismal campaign that leaves the club clawing for top four in the closing weeks, someone of Barella's ilk could have the transformative effect necessary to return to the top.
Should Liverpool sign Nicolo Barella?
The Premier League giants have not been at the races for the majority of the 22/23 campaign, ending the season without silverware – barring the Community Shield – after clinching the FA Cup and Carabao Cup last term in the unsuccessful pursuit of a historic quadruple.
The mass midfield exodus underscores the area for investment, with analytical reports illuminating the Anfield centre's woes, unable to protect the defence and sapped of its former intensity.
Despite this, a seven-match winning streak in the top-flight leaves Klopp's team poised to pounce on any mishaps of Newcastle United or Manchester United in the closing weeks, and regardless of whether top four is achieved, the robustness is back and calling for a fresh face to cement the new vigour.
Cue Barella. The Euro 2020 champion has forged 182 appearances for Inter and played a central role in winning the Scudetto and Coppa Italia, perhaps gleaning the crème de la crème in just a few weeks, Inter awaiting Manchester City in the Champions League final.
Contracted until 2026, the "extraordinary" gem – as hailed by former Cagliari coach Rolando Maran – ranks among the top 10% of midfielders across Europe's top five leagues for rate of non-penalty goals, the top 13% for rate of assists, the top 8% for shot-creating actions, the top 19% for progressive passes and the top 10% for progressive carries per 90, as per FBref.
What this effectively means is that not only is he prolific both as a goal-scoring threat and a creative component, but he can also flourish from deep, with flowing passes finding offensive peers in danger areas, also adept in carrying the ball up-field himself, where he can then affect the game directly.
Klopp knows a thing or two about harnessing the skills of cultured operators, and with the £157k-per-week phenom bearing a discernible semblance to the 55-year-old's former Borussia Dortmund engine, Ilkay Gundogan, it might just be a match made in heaven.
Gundogan made 117 displays under Klopp's wing, winning the Bundesliga and DFB Pokal, before joining Pep Guardiola's Man City in 2016 for £21m, where he has won countless major honours and been hailed as "intelligent" and "the whole" package by his Spaniard manager.
Seemingly the man of the moment in European football, having scored four goals and registered two assists in his last five outings, the German ranks among the top 2% of midfielders for rate of non-penalty goals, the top 15% for shot-creating actions, the top 18% for progressive passes and the top 21% for progressive carries.
Evidently boasting plenty of similarities to Barella, the 32-year-old has been a centrepiece to one of the most illustrious squads in Premier League history.
If Liverpool's Italian target can emulate that on Merseyside, fruitful fortunes may lay ahead for Anfield and all affiliated.