Good News – Liverpool Could Sign £24m Star For Just £15m

English Premier League club, Liverpool has reportedly been given a boost in the pursuit of highly-rated Lazio forward, Keita Balde Diao. The Daily Mirror has reported that Lazio’s valuation of the youngster has dropped drastically from £24m to £15m. Diao is a 19-year-old talented forward who graduated from Barcelona’s La Masia Youth Academy and has been in impressive form for the Italian Serie A side. However, he seems to have fallen out of favour and his playing time has so much reduced with Lazio, thereby making him a subject of transfer to the Mersey side club, Liverpool. With this report, Liverpool may just jump on this opportunity to land the player and make it work in January. Since the sale of Luis Suarez to Barcelona this summer, Liverpool has had to depend on the inconsistent Mario Balotelli in Daniel Sturridge’s absence through injury.

Liverpool under Brendan Rogers were very impressive last season almost clinching the English Premier League title coming second on the log behind Manchester City, the eventual Champions. A major factor responsible for the successful run last term is the Sturridge and Suarez (SAS) connection in their forward line but this season, the absence of Suarez through a departure to Barcelona and Daniel Sturridge through injury has had an effect on the potency of the Liverpool attack this summer. The signing of Mari Balotelli from AC Milan and Rickie Lambert from Southampton hasn’t really alleviated the goal scoring problem and now the manager, Brendan Rogers would look to bring in an attacker with a semblance of Suarez in term of the goal scoring rate. Another major worry for the Merseyside club is the threat of losing Raheem Sterling, who is said to be attracting interests from French Champions, Paris Saint Germain (PSG). These underline the need for a young and versatile attacker in the mould of Diao.

Born in Catalonia to Senegalese parents, Diao started his early football career at the FC Barcelona’s youth academy in 2004 and was there for 7 years. He was sent on loan to Cornella in 2010 and while there he scored 47 goals for the Cornella youth side. He however, turned down the chance to return to Barcelona and opted for Lazio despite other interests from Real Madrid and Manchester United. He faced an initial setback after moving to Lazio in 2011 because of Spanish citizenship issues. He had to wait for a year to be granted Spanish citizenship and the EU passport required for Lazio to register him. Diao spent 2012/2013 season playing with the Lazio youth side and training with the first team. Promotion came his way the following season and has scored 5 times in 23 appearances since 2013.

Whether Liverpool would make a move for this player despite this interesting development is left to be seen as Daniel Sturridge would soon be back from his injury spell and the need for another attacker may be seen as excessive luxury. When Mario Balotelli, Rickie Lambert, Raheem Sterling and Daniel Sturridge get back to their elements, then Diao’s inclusion may no longer be necessary.