Romano: Liverpool Make Contact to Sign Mateus Fernandes

He studied journalism at the University of South Wales and published a football book, named Bluebird Heaven, around the same time with Pitch Publishing.

Since then, Jamie has continued to specialise in football journalism, PR and football-related Spanish translation. He has worked with a number of media companies, including Reach PCL, Iconic Group and many more over a decade-long career. Sign in to your GiveMeSport account Liverpool are said to have dropped a major transfer hint after making a phone call to one of their Premier League rivals recently. The Reds are expected to make a number of signings this summer to allow Andoni Iraola to put his own stamp on his new squad.

The Merseyside giants are already expected to sign Victor Muñoz from Osasuna, and that will only be the beginning of their recruitment drive as they look to back up a big summer of spending this time last year.

Iraola will want to tweak several areas of the squad, especially having lost Mo Salah and Ibrahima Konate, employing a very different style from that of Arne Slot.

According to Fabrizio Romano, Liverpool called West Ham around two weeks ago to discuss midfielder Mateus Fernandes and to see what it would take to get a deal done.

The conversations did not progress beyond that, and it now appears likely Fernandes will join either Manchester United or Tottenham, with the former being the favourites to get the Portuguese 'superstar'.

But what the phone call does tell us, assuming the information is accurate, is that Liverpool are indeed exploring midfield options this summer. The Reds will have been well aware that Fernandes, described as 'playing like a young Steven Gerrard' by one ex-head analyst, is likely to cost £80 million or so this summer, although Romano claims the Irons ideally wanted £100m.

While they were not willing to pay that amount for the player, it can also be gleamed that the Reds are expected and willing to pay significant money to improve their midfield this summer.

Ryan Gravenberch currently leads the Liverpool midfield options, while there is also Curtis Jones, Wataru Endo, and Alexis Mac Allister, who plays a more attacking game.

Many Liverpool fans did want to see an alternative to Gravenberch at times last season, while Jones has been linked with a move away.

Speaking to Empire of the Kop, former Liverpool striker Stan Collymore detailed the Reds' needs for the summer, and he believes the midfield does not need too much investment.

“Central defender - Virgil is not getting any younger," he said. “I think they’re alright in midfield and for the 10. Hopefully [Florian] Wirtz comes in and adds something in that area, and they should be OK for forwards because they’ve got [Hugo] Ekitike, [Alexander] Isak, etc.

“I would say they don’t need major surgery, just one or two tactical signings. I haven’t got a name off the top of my head - Ezri Konsa was definitely a Liverpool target and he’s won the Europa League and will be playing in the Champions League with Aston Villa.

“[They need] a really good central defender, the next Virgil van Dijk for the next six or seven years as the main man at Liverpool to gradually succeed Van Dijk and to make sure that Liverpool - especially off the back of last season when they conceded so many goals - start to keep more clean sheets and defend much better.”

Liverpool are ready to try and sign the player from their Premier League rivals