Jim White has claimed that Napoli owner Aurelio De Laurentiis told him that Liverpool have shown interest in signing alleged West Ham target Nikola Maksimovic, when speaking to talkSPORT on Wednesday.
The Hammers are keen to sign the 29-year-old centre-back according to a report from Gianluca Di Marzio.
David Moyes could have his work cut out now, however, if he still hopes to sign Maksimovic.
Liverpool eyeing Nikola Maksimovic?
Jim White said that Napoli owner Aurelio De Laurentiis told him that Reds boss Jurgen Klopp has shown interest in bringing the Serbia international to Anfield:
“This morning, I spoke to Aurelio De Laurentiis, and said what about your player, are there bids in for him? He laughed it off saying he’s not for sale. He’s absolutely not for sale unless one of the big clubs in England come up with £100million. He then says to me ‘I thought you were going to refer to our defender Nikola Maksimovic, and Liverpool’s previous interest in him’. So I said ‘are Liverpool still interested in your defender?’ He interrupted me to say of course with injury problems to Gomez and Van Dijk but no they haven’t heard from them of late.”
The 6ft 4in centre-back is out of contract in the summer. Given Liverpool’s injury problems at centre-back, it would be no surprise if Klopp brought Maksimovic to Merseyside.
The towering defender may well be a very useful stop-gap signing for the Reds.
The Napoli ace still has plenty of years left ahead of him. And he could prove to be a real coup for whichever club wins the race for his signature.
Missing out on the Napoli ace will be a shame for West Ham. The Serbian is a very solid defender. The Hammers could have signed him for a bargain fee this month considering his contract situation in Naples.
If Liverpool swoop in for the 29-year-old, however, West Ham’s hopes will almost certainly be dead in the water.
Receive a digest of our best West Ham content each week direct to your mailbox
