£200,000-a-week star willing to agree Man Utd move but Liverpool lead to secure signing – Journalist

Manchester United and Liverpool are in the battle to sign Ryan Gravenberch from Bayern Munich but the Merseysiders are leading the race at the moment.

Ten days ago, Alfredo Pedulla revealed the Oranje midfielder would prefer to move to Old Trafford to play under the guidance of Erik ten Hag again.

More recently, Christian Falk, who is Head of Football for Bild, has claimed that Gravenberch is open to joining both Manchester United and Liverpool.

Ryan Gravenberch to Liverpool or Manchester Utd? | 'Clubs are pushing for the player' | Video | Watch TV Show | Sky Sports

He is interested in moving to the Premier League, wants to leave Bayern and will opt for the club that will offer him the chance to feature regularly. The German journalist stated the Anfield club are in the driving seat for now.

“I think Gravenberch is open to both clubs, Liverpool and Manchester United. He’s very interested in the Premier League.”

Ryan Gravenberch: Who is the Bayern Munich and Netherlands midfielder likened to Paul Pogba? | Bundesliga

“He will choose the club that shows him he’ll get playing time. I think Klopp is a very good guy to pursue people, so, at the moment, I would see Liverpool being at the front in this race.”

The 21-year-old midfielder, who earns around £200,000 a week before tax, only started six games in all competitions last season.

In the current campaign, so far, Bayern have played two games and the Dutch international has not even featured for a minute. It is likely he will continue to warm the bench if he stays with the Bavarians.

So, a transfer is the best solution. In your view, should Man Utd splash the cash to reunite Gravenberch with Erik ten Hag at Old Trafford?

Liverpool could seek to repeat Gakpo coup with swoop for £25.7m wiz who’s making waves in Europe

Eight months on from raiding PSV Eindhoven for Cody Gakpo, Liverpool could reportedly look to do the same again in the final week of the summer transfer window.

According to Dutch football journalist Rik Elfrink, the Eredivisie outfit are primed for an offer from the Reds – as well as Napoli – for Johan Bakayoko, with Burnley having already tried to land the 20-year-old, who’s been mooted to cost in the region of €25m-€30m (£21.5m-£25.7m).

Rik Elfrink tien jaar PSV-watcher: 'Als ik op het terras zit met een leuke vrouw en Luuk de Jong wordt verkocht, moet ik aan de bak' | Foto | ed.nl

Bakayoko has starred for PSV in the early weeks of the season, already recording four assists in just three Champions League qualifying games, setting up both of their goals against Rangers in their play-off first leg during the week

The youngster is very adept at advancing the ball, as illustrated in statistics from FBref. Outside of Europe’s five main leagues, he ranks in the top 1% of positional peers for progressive carries per 90 (7.22), and also in the top 5% for successful take-ons (3.07) and touches in the opposition penalty area (5.86) per game.

If Liverpool are to move for the right-sided winger in the coming days, it’d be a coup which’d have strong echoes of the Gakpo signing.

The 24-year-old is another attacker who came from PSV and was recruited with relative suddenness, rather than arriving at the culmination of a long-running saga.

Retained list and goodbye to Bakayoko | News | Official Site | Chelsea Football Club

Bakayoko seems like an exciting young talent who could generate much excitement around Anfield and provide some welcome right-sided attacking depth, although other parts of the squad will likely take priority in the closing days of the transfer window.

Still, this time of the year can throw up some real surprises, so let’s see if anything concrete happens between now and Friday night’s deadline.