Liverpool had a quiet first summer under new manager Arne Slot, signing just two new players.
The first, goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili, remains with Valencia and won’t move to Anfield until next summer, while the second, Federico Chiesa, has barely featured for the Reds.
The Italian winger, whom Liverpool paid Juventus £12.5 million for, has played just 78 minutes of football this season, having been sidelined for most of the campaign with fitness and injury problems.
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He’s yet to make an impact for the Reds.
Come January, however, Slot may be a little busier in the transfer market. Liverpool have already been linked with a number of big, and small, names, including Fulham’s American full-back Antonee Robinson, Sporting Lisbon starlet Geovany Quenda, and Chelsea’s Mykhailo Mudryk. One deal, in fact, is reported to have already been agreed.
Liverpool reportedly agree £21m Loic Bade deal
According to a report from Spain, Liverpool have allegedly agreed a €25m (£21m) fee with Sevilla to sign defender Loic Bade. The Spanish publication claims that Bade had been a target for the Reds since last summer, and he will now join them after the New Year, assuming ‘”nothing goes wrong” between now and January.
Aston Villa were also understood to be interested in the Frenchman, who has been impressing in Spain. Since joining Sevilla last year, Bade has made 67 appearances for the club, helping them lift the Europa League in 2022/23 – a tournament in which he notably scored against Manchester United in the quarter-finals.
Over the past year, the 24-year-old, who has been previously likened to former Liverpool star Joel Matip and described as “complete” by Football Talent Scout Jacek Kulig, ranks in the 98th percentile for tackles and take-ons when compared to players in his position across Europe’s top five leagues.
Who is Loic Bade?
Bade began his professional career in his home country with Le Havre. After just a handful of appearances for his boyhood club, he was then sold to Lens, before, just a year later, he was shipped on to Rennes.
In September 2022, he then joined Premier League outfit Nottingham Forest on a year-long loan. Bade left the club just six months later, however, without having made a single appearance.
At Sevilla, whom he initially joined on loan before making the deal permanent in the summer of 2023, he has found a home and established himself as one of La Liga’s top young defenders.
As a result of his displays for Sevilla, he was called up to the France national team for the first time last month in place of injured Chelsea defender Wesley Fofana.
Speaking about his time at Forest in an interview with Le Parisien last year, Bade said: “I gave everything in training. But these are the coach’s choices. I thought I’d get my chance, but I didn’t.”
“It was a blessing in disguise is what I tell myself,” he added. “If I hadn’t had this difficult period, I wouldn’t have refound myself at Sevilla.”
