‘Potentially’: £50m player may be closer to signing for Liverpool than people think - journalist

Liverpool could soon make their first signing of the summer transfer window after weeks of inactivity.

The Reds are said to be very interested in signing Martin Zubimendi, and there’s reason to believe this deal could be closer than people realise.

Indeed, within the space of an hour on Wednesday, Paul Joyce, Fabrizio Romano and David Ornstein all ran this story, and that would suggest that there has been a strong briefing around this deal.

Speaking on the Born n Red Playback channel, Lewis Steele has been discussing how these transfer rumours work, and he says there’s reason to believe the £50m man may be closer to Liverpool than we realise.

Martin Zubimendi to Liverpool may be close

Steele spoke about the reporting around this deal and why this move could be very close.

“Do you think this deal is a few more days advanced than what is being played out in the media?” Steele was asked.

“Potentially yes. I could see that. Normally in these scenarios the deal is more advanced than people let on. If I’m ever writing a transfer story I’ll always write it as being ‘close’,” Steele said.

“Like Luke Chambers last week, I knew 100% he was going to Wigan, but I just said he’s ‘close’ just in case anything happened. That’s some insight into these reports and briefs work. They are more advanced than people let on. I haven’t had indication that this is the case with this one, but I wouldn’t be surprised at all if it was.”

Zubimendi deal looks likely

Zubimendi to Liverpool is looking increasingly likely.

As the old saying goes, there’s no smoke without fire, and if all of the biggest journalists associated with Liverpool are running this story at the same time, it’s fair to say there’s something to it.

As Steele says, reporters will often play things down to give themselves a bit of leeway in terms of accuracy, but there’s every chance this deal is more advanced than many are letting on.

Zubimendi looks like he could be Liverpool’s first signing of the Arne Slot era.