Talks held: Liverpool have ‘genuine’ interest in £75m transfer swoop which’d sicken their rivals

According to information from one transfer insider, Liverpool have a ‘genuine’ interest in a potential raid on one of their biggest rivals in the final three weeks of the window.

The Reds continue to be strongly linked with a big-money move for Bradley Barcola, but while the Paris Saint-Germain winger has reportedly agreed personal terms with the Merseyside giants, his club are holding out for a fee of around £128m (TEAMtalk).

If that pursuit ultimately hits a dead end, Richard Hughes may yet turn his attention to an alternative target who’s currently playing in the Premier League.

On Wednesday morning, Mark Brus reported for the Daily Briefing that Liverpool hold a ‘genuine’ interest in Everton winger Iliman Ndiaye, with ‘direct talks’ having been held with the player’s camp over a potential cross-Merseyside transfer.

The 26-year-old isn’t pushing to leave the Hill Dickinson Stadium, although the Toffees are privately ware that the Senegal forward and his representatives have held discussions with other clubs.

One source told the transfer reporter: “Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal have all held talks with Ndiaye’s camp. Everton want £75m, which is too high, but it’ll be one to watch because the player is really keen to get a move.

“He’s decided against the Saudi option [Al Hilal] as he wants to keep playing at the highest level. I highly doubt Everton would sell to Liverpool, and there have been no club-to-club talks yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the asking price ended up being far higher for them.”

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This is certainly one of the more surprising transfer rumours we’ve heard this summer, even if Dean Jones claimed back in March that Ndiaye was one of the forwards that Liverpool shortlisted as a prospective replacement for Mo Salah.

Aside from the obvious difficulty of persuading Everton to sell to their biggest rivals (it’s happened before, we know, but it’s still a rarity), the 26-year-old hasn’t exactly shot the lights out during his time with the Toffees.

A return of 17 goals in 71 appearances for David Moyes’ side doesn’t suggest that he’d radically improve the Reds’ attack, and the less said about his time at Marseille (four goals in 46 games), the better.

In truth, Ndiaye would be a climbdown from Barcola if Liverpool were to abandon their pursuit of the PSG winger and turn to the Senegal international instead, and paying £75m would be very hard to justify for the goal returns cited above.

We’d be shocked if the 26-year-old were to swap one Merseyside club for another this month, although his future is likely to remain a major talking point until the summer transfer window shuts.