Italian club Inter Milan are hoping to convince Liverpool to allow the transfer of Lucas Leiva to serve as replacement for Marcelo Brozovic who is set to join Juventus, according to reports.
Leiva is the longest serving player at Anfield, garnering up to 315 appearances for the Reds. The 29-year old player’s future has been cast in doubt following the numerous additions to the squad this summer, meaning the Brazilian would have to compete for the more favoured player this season. Inter Milan are hoping to use this as bait to sign Leiva.
Leiva has not signed a renewal as his contract with the club enters its final year. The same Marcelo Brozovic is a target for Liverpool in a bid to reinforce the defence. However, Corriere dello Sport reports that Juventus would splash £21 million in the next few days to sign the player.
Leiva has only played for two clubs all this life with his youth training in Brazil with Gremio and his switch to Liverpool in 2007. He has admirers like Turkish giant Galatasaray interested. A member of the board of Galatasaray, Levent Nazifoglu confirmed that the club is in talks with Liverpool in a bid to sign him. On the other hand, Inter Milan want to add the player to bolster the ranks as they are almost done with the transfer of Joao Mario from Sporting Lisbon for £39 million. The deal is reported to be a loan with an option to but if the play maker impresses.
There are reports linking Inter to Marseille’s Lassana Diarra as the club wants to add him to the list of midfielders. In defence, new coach of Inter Frank de Boer wants to add Tottenham‘s Jan Vertoghen, especially as he remembers him from their time together at Ajax. Jeison Murillo could leave San Siro in a few weeks so Sky Italia says the former Ajax man will serve as capable replacement. Brozovic set to join Juve could be offered to Spurs to allow the deal go through.