Jurgen Klopp urges Liverpool to sign Wolves star after he leaves

Despite announcing his intention to leave Liverpool at the end of the season, coach Jurgen Klopp has reportedly instructed the club to pursue the signing of Wolverhampton Wanderers left-back Rayan Ait-Nouri in the upcoming summer window.

According to TEAMtalk, Klopp believes that Ait-Nouri could be a valuable addition to the Reds' squad as the side looks to refresh their defensive personnel in the coming transfer window.

With Klopp recently overseeing the overhaul of the club's midfield by recruiting the likes of Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai, Wataru Endo and Ryan Gravenberch, the defence has always been seen as the next priority.

The left-hand side of the defence had been earmarked for the next recruitment drive, albeit at centre-back.

With captain Virgil van Dijk not getting any younger and Joel Matip's knee injury appearing to have definitively ended his Anfield career, the Reds must desperately recruit a centre-back in the summer.

This link to Ait-Nouri, therefore, comes somewhat as a surprise.

Wing-back option

However, with Klopp moving on, the dynamic will be different at the club in the summer.

Ait-Nouri has impressed for Wolves as a wing-back in Gary O'Neil's dynamic 3-4-3 system this season - a system not too dissimilar from the one employed by Xabi Alonso at Bayer Leverkusen.

The shape employed by Alonso, the current favourite to take over from Klopp this summer, relies heavily on wing-backs Jeremie Frimpong and Alex Grimaldo. It could be argued that Ait-Nouri would be a much more natural fit for this role than the Reds' current left-backs, Andrew Robertson and Kostas Tsimikas.

While Robertson's attacking numbers are phenomenal, the Scotland captain is 30 now and a lot of talk has been about potentially converting him into a left-sided centre-back in a back three.

Tsimikas, meanwhile, has proven to be a capable deputy, but his attacking output is nowhere near that of Robertson.

Competition for his signature

Any potential transfer for Ait-Nouri is likely to be complicated by contractual intricacies, including a reported 50% sell-on clause held by his former club Angers.

Additionally, despite interest from Liverpool, Manchester United are also reportedly closely monitoring the 22-year-old.

That said, despite Ait-Nouri's apparent contentment at Wolves, reports suggest that the Algeria international remains open to the prospect of joining a bigger club.