From Spain: Liverpool player’s exit may have moved a big step closer in the last 24 hours
According to reports from Spain over the past 24 hours, one Liverpool player appears to have taken a significant step closer to the Anfield exit door.
As reported by Fabrizio Romano last weekend, Atletico Madrid have entered into talks over a possible swoop for Andy Robertson, who’s understood to be open to the possibility of playing for Diego Simeone’s side.
Paul Joyce claimed (via The Times) that the LaLiga outfit are hopeful of paying just €5m (£4.2m) for the 31-year-old, who the Reds would be willing to sell, according to Mick Brown for Football Insider.
Atletico agree personal terms with Robertson
On Wednesday evening, Spanish outlet AS reported (via Football Espana) that Atletico have now agreed personal terms with the Liverpool defender in their pursuit of a new left-back.
The powerbrokers at the Metropolitano are aware that Robertson is keen on moving to Madrid and that their club can offer him ‘everything he wants’.
The next step in the process is for the two clubs to agree a fee, although it’s claimed that this should be relatively straightforward.
Liverpool now increasingly likely to lose a great servant in Robertson
We’d be inclined to wait for sources closer to home to corroborate this report from AS, but the direction of travel certainly seems to be that the Scotland captain will Liverpool after eight tremendous years in which he was one of the world’s best players in his position at his peak.
His creative output may have diminished last season (just two assists) and there were some occasional horror shows (such as Arsenal away and Fulham at home), but Robertson was still an integral figure in the Reds winning a second Premier League title in six years.
With Milos Kerkez set to arrive from Bournemouth and become an immediate starter under Arne Slot, and wtih the long-serving 31-year-old coming into the final year of his contract at Anfield, perhaps there’s a sense that the timing is right for him to take on a new personal and professional challenge in the Spanish capital.
Even at that and even considering his 2017 acquisition for just £10m, to see him leave for less than half that amount will be sore for Liverpool fans to take.
For everything that he’s given to the club, though, we wouldn’t begrudge Robertson the opportunity to test himself elsewhere if that is indeed his preference. Now that personal terms seem to have been sorted, we imagine that agreement on a fee would be reached quite quickly.
Sadly, it looks increasingly as though we’ll soon be saying goodbye to a superb footballer and an excellent servant to LFC, but he’d go with the fondest wishes of every Reds supporter.
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